The SMU women’s soccer team went 2-0 this weekend at theSMU Mi Cocina Soccer Cup. The wins bring the Mustangs’record to 7-2 on the season. Friday night’s victory wasthe 250 th in SMU women’s soccer history.
Texas A&M won the Mi Cocina Soccer Cup after beating Oregonand Colorado College by the scores of 4-0 and 2-0, respectively.The Mustangs placed second with their own undefeated record, but alesser goal differential.
The Mustangs open WAC conference play next Friday at 7 p.m. whenthey play San Jose State at Westcott Field.
Freshman forward Olivia O’Rear led the way in the MiCocina Cup with two goals and one assist for the tournament. The five points were the first of her college career.
“Olivia’s time is now,” said SMU Coach JohnCossaboon. “She picked Friday night to make her mark,and she’s using her talents to go at people the wholegame.”
The Mustangs opened the tournament Friday evening, when theydefeated the Colorado College Tigers by the score of 2-1.
The game winning goal was scored by Kim Harvey in the 54thminute with assists from Lauren Mussallem and Susanne Collins.
Mussallem crossed the ball to a heavily marked Harvey, who wasable to place her shot in the upper right of the net.
“I just flicked it over the defender, and I kind of gotlucky when it landed at my feet,” said Harvey.
Coach Cossaboon said that Harvey utilized more than justluck.
“[ Harvey ] is just so smart with the ball; she alwaysknows what to do in terms of setting up her shot,” Cossaboonsaid. “She’s at her best in the middle of acrowd.”
The goal was Harvey’s 9th in eight games this season.
O’Rear had the first goal of the game in the 29th minutewhen she put away a rebound chance.
Colorado College midfielder Courtney Michel cut the lead in halfin the 70 th minute when she put away the rebound of a savedpenalty kick.
SMU also came away with a 2-0 victory against the Oregon Duckson Sunday.
Senior co-captain Lauren Mussallem tallied the game winning goalin the 15th minute, when she took O’Rear’s pass acrossthe box and placed a shot low to the near post.
“I really thought [O’Rear] was going to take a shot,but she ended up sending me this nice little pass,” saidMussallem. “From there, all I had to do was get a shotoff.”
O’Rear contributed her second goal of the weekend in the71st minute, taking a short cross from Mussallem and beating Oregongoaltender Domenique Lainez on the near post.
Kim Harvey also assisted on the goal.
Sunday’s game was very physical, and both teams sawplayers leave the game with injuries.
SMU lost freshman defender Susanne Collins in the first half toa non-contact leg injury. Collins has played in all eight SMUgames this season, tallying one goal and one assist.
“We don’t really know what it is right now,”said Cossaboon, “but the fact that she couldn’t comeback into the game indicates that it might be a serious injury.
“We’re just going to wait and see what the doctorsays,” she said.
Sophomore Kati Shelton also went down in the second half after acollision in SMU’s box but did not need to be taken out.
Oregon’s Mele French left the game with five minutes leftin the second half after appearing to take a knock to the head.
Oregon was the aggressor for most of the physical play, but onlySMU’s Jill Heinemann received a yellow card. The juniormidfielder was cautioned in the 62nd minute.
“That’s just soccer,” said Cossaboon. “If you’re skilled, quick, and smart on the ball,you can make [overly physical play] look silly.
“But if you hold on to the ball too long, you’regoing to get hammered,” she said.
Coach Cossaboon was very pleased with the way the tournamentunfolded for his team.
“This is a great springboard for our conferenceplay,” he said. “[ Colorado College and Oregon ]are a lot like the teams we’ll face [in WAC play], andit’s just a perfect lead in to next week.”
