Senior forward Jena Lind, powers past UTSA midfielder Celeste Carruth during the Mustangs’ 2-1 win over the Road Runner’s at Westcott Field on Aug. 31. (John Schreiber)
The women’s soccer team will travel to Missouri and Kansas this weekend to take on St. Louis and the University of Kansas in the Mustang’s first away-game series of the season.
The St. Louis Billikens lost both of their first two home games to Penn State and Ohio State. The University of Kansas Jayhawks lost to Hawaii in their preseason and tied Auburn. Kansas will officially begin its season Thursday night when it takes on BYU at its home field in Lawrence, Kan.
Head coach Brent Erwin is not one to let the numbers fool him though. “I think St. Louis is a very good team. Like Dallas, it’s a huge soccer town. Kansas has a very good women’s team that has been ranked in the top 25 this year,” explained Erwin.
“We are really looking forward to this weekend because St. Louis and Kansas are both very good teams. It will be a great challenge for us,” explained goalkeeper Ashley Gunter.
SMU defeated Texas-San Antonio 2-1 Friday night at the season opening game at Westcott Field. Kimber Bailey and Allison Brill, the two players who scored for SMU last week, will return to the field in both games in hopes of improving the team’s season record to 2-0. Kim Peabody, who had six shots on goal against UTSA, will also be a key to the Mustang’s success in this weekend’s games.
“We just want to go play two good matches. We want to test ourselves against teams that are perennial NCAA tournament teams,” said Erwin. “We’re going to test ourselves and learn from the game, put on some good performances and win some matches for SMU.”
One athlete is particularly excited to take on the Billikens in St. Louis this weekend. “I’m from St. Louis, so playing in front of my friends and family is going to be awesome. Our team is very well prepared for these games,” Peabody said. “This is probably one of the biggest weekends we have this season.”
The Mustangs will return to Westcott Field on Sept. 14 when they take on the Sun Devils from Arizona State.
