Women’s soccer tops UTSA, falls to ND (Photo by John Schreiber, The Daily Campus)

The Mustang women opened up play at Westcott Field with an impressive showing against the University of Texas-San Antonio on Friday afternoon. Sophomore Marisa Schieda opened up the scoring with a goal in the 29th minute just after subbing into the game. Fellow sophomore Kirsten Morgan assisted on the goal. The second goal of the first half was tallied by senior Susanne Collins after quality ball movement by teammates Marisa Schieda and Jena Lind.

The crossbar stopped the Mustangs on three occasions, but it didn’t stop the shooters from trying some more. In the first half the crossbar stopped both Krystal and Kimber Bailey, and in the second half Kim Peabody was stopped by the top bar. But each of the three women scored later in the game accounting for all three second-half goals.

The Mustangs outplayed the Roadrunners through all 90 minutes and gave some bench players game time, including junior goalkeeper Amy Bennett who entered with 28 minutes left in the game.

Sunday’s game against top-ranked University of Notre Dame was a tale of two halves.

SMU played the Fighting Irish evenly all the way through the first half. Both teams had legitimate scoring chances in the last 33 minutes of the half. SMU’s senior Olivia O’Rear struck the crossbar above the beaten Notre Dame goaltender. And with just three minutes left in the half, Irish Susan Pinnick shot the ball just wide of an empty net after Mustang goalkeeper Ashley Gunter deflected a shot wide. The two teams entered halftime in a scoreless tie. But in the second half Notre Dame showed why they are the top-ranked team in the nation. Notre Dame’s Kerry Hanks scored in just the 4th minute of the second half off a rebound on a corner kick. Hanks scored again on a penalty kick in the 25th minute. The penalty kick call had Head Coach John Cossaboon in the referee’s ear for the rest of the match. Finally Molly Iarocci sealed the game for the Irish in the 43rd minute of play.

SMU has a 3-2-1 record with their only losses coming at the hands of top five ranked teams. The Mustangs have four more non-conference games before Conference USA play begins.

The Mustangs take the field against Ole Miss in Oxford on Friday.

Women’s soccer tops UTSA, falls to ND (Photo by John Schreiber, The Daily Campus)