The Blinn College women’s soccer team powered past Paris Junior College for a 4-1 Region XIV home victory Tuesday at Rankin Field inside Hohlt Park in Brenham, Texas.
The Buccaneers scored the first four goals of the match to pave the way to their program-record seventh win of the season. At 7-2 overall and 4-1 in Region XIV, Blinn is off to its best start since the program began in 2018.
“As a program, we’ve been talking about what we’re achieving right now since I stepped on campus as an assistant coach in 2019,” Bucs head coach Alexandria Jackson said. “Those conversations are coming to fruition, and we still have a ways to go, but we’re happy with how far we’ve come.”
Blinn displayed some of its growth with a gutsy performance against the Dragons.
Following a slow offensive start, freshman midfielder Eleanor Sargeant helped the Bucs break through with an unassisted goal in the 28th minute. That spark carried over to sophomore defender Emma Orozco, who buried a goal off an assist from sophomore midfielder Brianna Hoffman in the 34th minute.
(Pictured: Blinn’s Emma Orozco, center, is hugged by Paola Brizuela Razo after Orozco scored against Paris Junior College on Sept. 19, 2023)
“We started off a bit slow, but good teams get over that,” added Jackson.
Hoffman opened the second-half scoring when she took a feed from freshman forward Paola Brizuela Razo and turned it into a 3-0 cushion in the 53rd minute.
“We came out a little slow, but we understand that we have to work together to make this team go,” Hoffman said. “Once we started doing that, everything fell into place. We’ve been working on runs, we’ve been working on our plays, and I think we’re starting to master switching the field and working through our midfield to score goals.”
Freshman midfielder Annika Murdoch found freshman defender Elizabeth Carnes for Blinn’s final score of the match in the 64th minute.
The Dragons broke up the shutout with a goal in the 78th minute.
The Bucs outshot Paris 25-4, with a 16-3 edge in shots on goal.
Freshman goalkeeper Madison Ortiz made two saves for Blinn in 90 minutes in goal.
The Bucs get back to work when they visit region foe Angelina College at 5 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 22, in Lufkin, Texas.
Blinn has competed in intercollegiate athletics since 1903 and captured 44 NJCAA national championships since 1987.
