PREVIEW: Texas Tech opens 2022 campaign against Troy

Following a successful preseason slate, the Red Raiders will square off with the Troy Trojans for the first time in program history. Admission into Thursday night’s match will be free.

Texas Tech will look to captains Charlotte Teeter and Hannah Anderson to lead the way this season. After losing their leading scorer from a year ago in Kirsten Davisthe Red Raiders will turn to Ashleigh Williams and Macy Schultz to pace the way. Williams trailed behind Davis with eight goals last season while Schultz turned in four.

Senior keeper Madison White will look to continue her dominance in the net. The Rockwall, Texas native saw every minute of all 20 matches in the goal for Tech. She tallied 51 saves, 0.92 goals against average and a .729 save percentage.

Scouting the Trojans

The Trojans return all five top scorers from the 2021 season in Erin Bloomfield, Ella Owen, Taytum Terrell, Nia Wilson and Lisa Blankestein. Bloomfield paced the way with seven goals last season. All-Sun Belt Second Team selection Lindsey LaRoche returns in net for Troy. The sophomore ranked second in the Sun Belt in goals against average (0.90) and third in save percentage (.824).

Troy is led by first-year head Robert Lane. Lane came to Troy following three seasons as the first assistant coach at Georgia and with eight years of head coaching experience in tow. Lane helped lead Georgia to an 11-5-3 mark last season as the Bulldogs finished the season ranked No. 55 in the NCAA’s RPI, Georgia’s best RPI finish since 2004.

Quick Hitters

• Macy Blackburn was the Red Raiders lone Preseason All-Big 12 selection. The defender led the squad with nine assists last season and racked up Big 12 All-Freshman Team, Midwest All-Region Second Team and the TopDrawerSoccer.com All-Freshman Second Team honors.
• Texas Tech was picked to finish fourth in the Preseason Big 12 Coaches Poll. The Red Raiders were slated behind TCU, Texas and West Virginia.
• The Red Raiders lost the team’s leading scorer from a year ago in Kirsten Davis. However, the team does return its second leading scorer (Ashleigh Williams), assists leader (Blackburn) and saves leader (Madison White).
• White enters the season ranked fifth in Tech’s career goals against record (0.96), fourth in career shutouts (17) and seventh in career saves (140).
• The Red Raiders boast a young roster with the addition of 10 freshmen.
• Kylie Bahr etched her name into the Texas Tech Soccer beep test record. The freshman broke a 15-year-old fitness test record.
• This season’s captains are super senior Charlotte Teeter and fourth-year senior Hannah Anderson.
• This season marks the 15th season that the Red Raiders have been playing at the John Walker Soccer Complex. Tech is three wins shy of its 100th win at Walker.