The #20 NOC Tonkawa Mavericks collected their tenth shutout of the season in their 1-0 win over #3 Seminole State College Wednesday at NOC. Northern broke through in the 16th minute with an unbelievable shot from Jazmine Furra. Furra took the ball on the right side, cut a defender twice, and launched a long shot that hit off the far post and into the goal. It would be the only goal the Mavs would need on the day filled with intensity and back and forth play. The Trojans nearly got on the board with a breakaway after a mistake in the back by the Mavs. Seminole had a two versus one on Maverick defender Lexi Albright, but Albright handled the situation perfectly forcing a shot that Northern goalkeeper Vanessa Markl saved easily.The majority of the second half was one way traffic as Seminole State controlled possession in Northern’s half of the field for nearly the entire forty-five minutes, but the Mavericks were able to sit back and defend forcing Seminole State into turnovers in the midfield, and through balls that rolled out of bounds. The Trojans best chances came on free kicks around the box, but the Mavs were able to hold Seminole scoreless on the day.“We knew coming into the game that Seminole had the advantage on us in two areas, athleticism and depth,” said coach Michael DuRoy. “They have elite speed all over the field. We felt like our back four could match up, but they are more athletic than us pretty much everywhere else. When the other team is faster you have to beat them to dangerous areas of the field with intelligence and effort. I thought our girls did that well for the most part. We didn’t have our best game with the ball today, but I give Seminole credit for that. Coach Hill has them organized and they play hard. They know how we want to play and they didn’t let us. They are really good, deserving of their ranking. Oddly enough I thought we played better in the first game against them this year, but things just went our way today. Jaz’s goal was phenomenal, and I thought Lexi (Albright) was the best player on the field today. She was a rock in the back.” The Mavs are 11-2-2 on the season and are in second place behind Seminole in conference play.
