Lady Mustangs up to winning form, oust TCU 4-2; face Baylor, OU this weekend
The talent on the SMU women’s soccer team prevailedTuesday night as they defeated the TCU Horned Frogs 4-2. TheMustangs are now 4-1 on the season, and remain the top team in theWAC conference.
TCU, led by first-year winger Ashley Fortune, outhustled theseemingly flat Mustangs for most of the game but could not matchthe four spectacular goals scored by Jill Heinemann and KimHarvey.
The Horned Frogs opened the scoring in the 19th minute, when TCUbeat the offside trap with a cross to the right wing. Fortunecollected the ball chipped by SMU goalkeeper Amanda Jordan.
Tied at 1-1 in the 49th minute, TCU went ahead again whenFortune sprung junior Amy Van Zandt, who one-timed the ball intothe far right of the net.
All of the Mustangs’ firepower came from the duo ofHeinemann and Harvey. Heinemann’s first goal was aspectacular free kick from 40 yards out that bent in to the farside of the goal in the 29th minute.
She scored her second in the 66th minute when senior LaurenMussallem brought the ball down the right flank, beat a defender,and crossed a ball that deflected right to Heinemann’s foot. Both goals tied the score.
Mussallem again sent a cross from the right flank, this time tosenior Kim Harvey. Harvey ‘s low shot beat TCU’sKatie Buchanan for the game-winner in the 79th minute.
Harvey also scored in the 90th minute to secure a win for theMustangs.
She has now tallied seven goals, first among WAC players.
SMU will play Baylor at TCU on Friday afternoon before returninghome to face Oklahoma on Sunday at 2 p.m.
“About the only positive I can say is that we won,”SMU coach John Cossaboon said. “We just played with nointensity.”
The players all agreed with their coach. “We justweren’t up to playing our game tonight,” midfielderKati Shelton said.
Although the Mustangs held a 10-6 edge in shots on goal, theHorned Frogs outshot SMU 16-15 for the game. TCU’sAshley Fortune and Elizabeth Walsh led the way with four shotsapiece.
TCU, who saw its record fall to 2-2 on the season, also sawFortune receive the only yellow card of the match for a roughtackle on the Mustangs’ Adria Campbell.
“I think we underestimated them a little bit,”defender Melissa Nixon said. “After halftime, we definitelyfocused more [on] trying to play our game.”
Even playing their third game in five days, the playersdon’t blame fatigue for their lack of energy.
“There’s really no excuse; we should have playedmuch better,” first-year Olivia O’Rear said. “We have much more potential than this.”
Cossaboon, while unhappy with the effort, emphasized that theMustangs are usually a much better team than the team that showedup to play Tuesday night.
“I think ‘potential’ is a word that peoplethrow around when they’re not playing as well as theyshould,” the coach said. “It’s not that wecan be a good team, but we are a good team.
“All four goals we scored tonight were phenomenal,”he continued. “We obviously have the talent. Whatwe’re looking for now is the sustained effort that will makeus as good as we can be.”
