The women’s soccer team ended its season with back-to-back victories this weekend at Westcott Field.
The team’s first win came in a 1-0 victory over the Golden Hurricane from Tulsa, marking the team’s third shutout in a row. The Mustangs found themselves on the board when senior Kimber Bailey shot a ball into the top left corner of the net off a penalty kick in the 13th minute. The game-winning goal marked Bailey’s third goal of the season, and 39th in her career.
“We didn’t play our best, but we ended up winning, and that’s the outcome we needed,” said Bailey. “We had a lot of stuff go wrong, and struggled with a lot especially with offense, but we stuck together as a team and got out of our slump.”
The Mustangs defense, with the help of junior Ashley Gunter at goal, prevented Tulsa from scoring in the final conference game of the season. Gunter made two saves in the first period, and two in the second half, while Tulsa goalkeeper, Rachel Robinson had one save in the first half, and three in the second.
SMU had nine corner kicks to the Golden Hurricane’s zero, and outshot Tulsa 11-10. Friday night’s game marked the end of conference play for the Mustangs who close out conference play 4-5-0.
Sunday’s game against the Mean Green from North Texas marked the last home game for SMU, and the team’s seniors. After recognizing each senior’s achievements during her time spent playing at SMU, seniors Amy Bennett, Jena Lind, Kimber Bailey, Brittainy Vice and Allison Brill all started. Playing the entire game at goal with a separated shoulder, Bennett came away from the game with one save, and one allowed goal.
Tulsa scored first in the 54th minute when sophomore midfielder Kendall Juett headed the ball in from eight yards off a long free kick from teammate, sophomore midfielder Lauren Shockey.
“We didn’t play the style we wanted to play, but we had to play to win the matches,” said head coach Brent Erwin.
Kimber Bailey stepped up in the 65th minute, scoring the game-tying goal with an unassisted free kick from 25 yards back, curling the ball just over the goalkeeper’s head. The goal marked Bailey’s 40th career goal, moving her to sixth place in the school’s history for most career points.
SMU’s Vice won the game for the Mustangs in the 72nd minute after receiving a pass from Kimber Bailey and beating the Tulsa goalkeeper to the net from 14 yards. Bailey closed her season at SMU with a total of 98 points after gaining credit for the assist to Vice.
“This is the last time the seniors played at Westcott, and the last time they will play together. So you want to make sure they go out the right because they have all done so much for the program so we wanted to play for them,” said Erwin.
Bailey has started every season she played at SMU, and won several honors each year including ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District team this year. Bailey ends her season at SMU with 41 goals, 18 assists and 98 career points.
Krystal Bailey, injured in the middle of the season, appeared in 60 games during her career at SMU. She had 17 goals and 12 assists.
After playing in three games during her time at SMU, Bennett only allowed one goal in the UNT game. Bennett is viewed by her teammates as one of the hardest and most dedicated players on the team.
Vice closed out her season with three goals and three assists, and started every game at SMU this year. She scored the game-winning goal against Colorado College this season.
Brill led the Mustangs with four goals this season, beating her record last year of three.
Pembroke started every game as a freshman, played in 82 games and was one of the team’s co-captains this season.
Lind closed out her final season at SMU with a total of 53 games, four goals and nine assists. Lind is credited with scoring the game-winning goal last season against Southern Miss that clinched the Conference USA regular-season title for the Mustangs.
SMU closed out its season with a 9-7-1 record overall, and a 4-5-0 conference record.
