Women’s soccer falls to the Aggies
After defeating Duquesne University to open the season, SMU coach George Van Linder felt confident that the Lady Mustangs could improve on the successes of 2001. “We have so many people back from last year’s [team]. I believe it’s realistic to think that we can do better this year.”
And, after Sunday’s game against the third-seeded Aggies of Texas A&M, there was a quantifiable measure of exactly how much better they were. Seven minutes, 17 seconds.
In last year’s NCAA tournament, the Lady Mustangs lost 2-1 in double overtime to the Aggies, with the game winning goal coming in the 103rd minute. Sunday, the two teams played to a 1-1 tie through overtime, with the Mustangs losing 3-2 in a penalty kick shootout after 110 minutes of soccer, including two 10-minute overtimes. The game is officially declared a draw, bringing the Mustangs’ record to the final 13-5-5.
Overtime games dogged the Mustangs this year, with Sunday’s contest being the ninth time they needed the extra periods. Their record was 3-2-4 in those games. Last year’s 16-4 team only reached overtime twice, posting a 1-1 record in those games.
The road to the tournament did not go as smoothly for the Lady Mustangs this year either. Although they captured both the regular season and postseason WAC title, the Mustangs lost their first conference game since 1999, falling at 1-2 at Tulsa.
SMU also had to get through the formidable UTEP Miners twice – once to claim the regular season title and once in the final game of the WAC tournament. Both games ended 3-1 in SMU’s favor, but UTEP gave the Mustangs trouble with its speed and physical play.
However, this was a successful season for the Lady Mustangs. Like last year, they upset the No. 11 Texas Longhorns in the opening round of the NCAA tournament, winning the game 2-1 courtesy of goals by Kim Harvey and Erin MacCallum.
Also, six players were honored by being named to the All-WAC team. Junior Harvey was named to Second Team All-WAC, while Sasha Andrews, Tara Comfort, Jill Heinemann, Amanda Jordan, Diana Kelm and Erin McLeod were all named to First Team All-WAC.
Most of the squad should return next year, but the Mustangs are losing a talented forward in senior Tara Comfort, last year’s WAC Player of the Year and a NSCAA All-Central Region second team selection. Next year, they will look to Heinemann and Harvey, this year’s leading scorer, to continue their strong performances from this year.
At 13-5-5, the Lady Mustangs did not improve their record from last year, but they did accomplish a feat last year’s squad cannot claim. They tied the Aggies in the NCAA tournament.
