BOX SCORE
Prairie View A&M head soccer coach Abe Garcia approached Sunday's game against Grambling State a little different than previous weeks. The Lady Panthers needed a win to qualify for the Southwestern Athletic Conference Tournament, and he did not want them to be tense or over-think the situation.
So Garcia didn't really talk to his team during pre-game warm ups or give a pep speech. He just wanted them to go out and play. The strategy worked, and the Lady Panthers had an offensive explosion to win 3-1 on senior day at the soccer field.
“The girls were really focused,” Garcia said. “It was do or die for us. They knew in order to continue our season we had to win.”
Prairie View A&M forward Angie Guillory set the tempo for her team. She scored in the 13th minute on a breakaway. Guillory sped past Grambling State defenders and scored against an isolated goalie for the 1-0 lead.
She scored again in the 32nd minute to give the Lady Panthers a 2-0 lead, and Gabriella Ramos summoned her inner David Beckham in the 39th minute and bent a corner kick in for a goal to give her team a 3-0 heading into the second period.
“We've been in quite the drought,” Garcia said. “Three goals in one game was big. I think it definitely helped our confidence level. It was a good time to get the win. Hopefully we can take this momentum and carry it into the conference tournament.”
The Lady Panthers finish off their schedule on the road before the conference tournament in November. They take on Alabama A&M this Friday and Alabama State on Saturday.
“It's definitely a (confidence) boost,” Guillory said. “Because we knew we had it in us. It was just a matter of putting the ball in the back of the net. Now that we finally got there we feel like we can only go up from here.”
