In a rematch of last year’s Western Athletic Conferencefinal, the women’s soccer team defeated the UTEP Miners 2-0at Westcott Field on Friday.
The result extended SMU’s unbeaten streak to eightmatches. The team’s last loss was on Sept. 14 when it lost toOklahoma in overtime.
The win brought the conference- leading Mustangs’ recordto 13-2 (6-0 WAC) and sent the Miners to 8-6 (3-3 WAC). The Minersdropped to fourth in the conference, behind SMU, Hawaii andRice.
SMU coach John Cossaboon said that the game was a step in theright direction for the Mustangs.
“This game and the intensity we showed is where we have tobe,” Cossaboon said. “UTEP is a darn good team, andbeating them is a step in the right direction.”
Senior forward Ashley VanMeter agreed. “This is the firstfull game we’ve played with this type of intensity allyear,” she said.
After the evening began with a tribute to the four Mustangseniors, it was a bit ironic that a freshman opened thescoring.
Olivia O’Rear made a run down the left flank, beatingthree Miner defenders before lofting the ball over UTEP goalkeeperKyla Clark. Senior Lauren Mussallem had the assist.
“[O’Rear’s] a baller,” sophomore MelissaNixon said. “She’s got great speed, great ball skill— she’s a hard player to play against.”
“It’s one of the best goals we’ve scored allyear,” VanMeter said.
Kim Harvey continued her season- long success by notching her20th goal in 15 games. The senior from Garland tapped home arebound chance in the 68th minute for the insurance goal.
The play started when freshman Adria Campbell stole a bad backpass from the Miner’s defense and took a hard shot at KylaClark. The UTEP goalkeeper blocked the shot, but had troublecontrolling the rebound, which fell to an unmarked Harvey.
The goal kept Harvey in second place in the conference goalscoring race. She trails Hawaii sophomore Natasha Kai by sevengoals.
Fellow senior VanMeter said that the team counts on Harvey forbig goals.
“[Harvey’s] just a goal scoring machine,”VanMeter said. “We can always rely on her when we need agoal.”
UTEP played a physical game, but the only yellow card was givento Mussallem for a dangerous play in the 49th minute.
Coach Cossaboon was pleased with the way the Mustangs respondedto the challenges the Miners presented.
“[UTEP] has some key players up the middle of thefield,” he said. “Our goal for this game was to containthose players by staying in front of them. This wasn’t a gamewhere we were going to try and score 10 goals. We just wanted toget one goal and win the game with it.”
The Mustangs will round out the regular season home schedule at7 p.m. on Wednesday when they face North Texas. Admission is freewith an SMU ID.
After Wednesday’s match with North Texas, the Mustangswill play three straight road matches before returning to host theWAC Championships in November.
