Sept. 28, 2008

Box Score

RUSTON -- Junior Kat McCullough found the back of the net in the 79th minute to lift Louisiana Tech to a 1-0 win over Mississippi Valley State Sunday afternoon at Joe Aillet Stadium.

With the win, this year's Tech team set the program record with its eighth victory and another program record with its seventh shutout of the season.

Win No. 8 didn't come easy.

"Relief," said Tech head coach Kevin Sherry when asked about his thoughts on the win. "To have had that much possession time and that many scoring opportunities, not to have scored and won would have been a crying shame. These kids deserved it."

Despite outshooting Mississippi Valley State 29-5 in the game, the two teams were scoreless at the half and well into the second half before Kiva Grisham's cross from the left side found McCullough in front of the right post. McCullough one-time the ball out of the air and into the back of the net for the only goal of the game.

"We told the kids to cross into areas and not aim for specific people," Sherry said. "That's what Kiva did. It was lucky for us that Kat was in that area and she was able to finish."

The Lady Techsters (8-2-1) had plenty of scoring chances during the contest as 12 of their 29 shots were on goal as Mississippi Valley State keeper Jordan Thomas registered 11 saves.

However, perhaps Tech's top two scoring chances came when shots hit the top of the cross bar.

The first time came in the 28th minute of the game when Hikari Kurokawa's shot hit the cross bar as the game remained scoreless. After McCullough's goal gave Tech the 1-0 lead, Scotti Culton had a shot that hit the crossbar in the 89th minute that would have been an insurance goal.

Tara Gavlak played the entire 90 minutes in goal for Tech, helping the Lady Techsters to their seventh shutout of the season.

"It's a program record for wins and for shutouts," Sherry said. "When I first came here, I was told I couldn't win here. I'm very proud of these kids and its just justification that those people weren't correct. The kids deserve all the credit. They are the ones who have put the work in."

Tech returns to action Oct. 4 when the Lady Techsters travel to face Prairie View A&M at 11 a.m.