Women’s soccer wins first two WAC games

The SMU Lady Mustangs opened Western Athletic Conference play this weekend, recording two victories over Boise State and Nevada at Westcott Field, improving their overall record to 6-4-2.

Friday night’s contest vs. Boise State finished with a 4-0 score highlighted by Kim Harvey’s 7th goal of the season, while Sunday’s game ended with a 5-0 score. Both games were 1-0 at the half.

Sunday’s game was the third in five days for the Mustangs, who tied TCU 1-1 on Wednesday evening. With another WAC game this Thursday, team fatigue is a very real possibility.

“We’re going to push people to be ready,” coach George Van Linder said. “We’re going to have two hard practices and play hard on Thursday (at Fresno State).”

Friday’s game marked not only the start of WAC play, but a return home for the Mustangs after a less than successful road trip, where they had a record of 0-1-2. Playing an overmatched Boise State team was “a real team confidence booster,” sophomore Jill Heinemann, who scored a penalty kick in the game, said.

“It’s a new start for our team,” defender Diana Kelm said. “We just need to forget about the past and focus on our conference play.”

The coach said he and the team had been looking forward to WAC play.

“It’s like a clean slate; everyone (was) 0-0 in WAC pla,” he said.

Boise State didn’t make the first few minutes of conference play easy for the Mustangs. The Broncos clogged up the midfield, making it difficult for SMU to spring its speedy forwards. However, in the 25th minute, senior forward Tara Comfort took a pass from sophomore Amanda Jorden and buried it a few inches below the crossbar.

The second half saw several quick strikes from the Mustang offense. Less than a minute into the half, sophomore Erin MacCallum was clipped in the box, resulting in a penalty kick which Heinenmann confidently made.

Three minutes later, junior Kim Harvey slotted a breakaway past Boise State’s goalkeeper, and seven minutes later, MacCallum scored in the same way. Junior Lauren Mussallem assisted the final two goals. SMU outshot the Broncos 24-9.

“We’ve talked about getting it done in regulation,” Kelm said. “It’s all about the intensity, and we showed that out there tonight.”

Sunday’s game against Nevada was a real test of that “intensity,” as it was played under the relentless midday sun.

“We tried to use the heat to our advantage,” defender Alexis Small said. “We played the ball to feet a lot and tried to make them do all the running.”

The heat also gave the players off the bench a real advantage.

“When you come off the bench, you always have more energy, especially in situations like this (one),” said freshman forward Stephanie Sewell, who scored season her second goal. “We go in and have to bring the energy level back up.”

Nevada fared a little better than Boise State as it managed to hold the Mustangs scoreless for most of the first half, but Sewell put away a rebound in the 40th minutes to give SMU the lead. The goal occurred after a scramble in which three consecutive shots were cleared off the line, two by the Nevada’s goalkeeper and one by a Wolfpack defender, before Sewell lifted the rebound over the goal line.

“It was pretty exciting,” the freshman midfielder, said. “I hadn’t scored at home yet.”

As in the Boise State game, the second half saw a flurry of offensive activity early. Heinemann collected another early penalty kick goal, this time after Comfort was taken down. That was followed by Sasha Andrews’ header off a corner kick, Harvey’s long shot that snuck in far post, and Mussallem’s beautiful chip shot that fell into the upper left corner of the net.

The players attribute some of this success to their new system.

“We’ve been trying a (4-3-3) and it’s gone pretty well so far,” Kelm said.

Coach Van Linder is enjoying the team’s three-game unbeaten streak.

“We’re so excited about making our record better as of now, we’re not ranked, but we think we deserve to be in that top 25,” Van Linder said.

However, he’s not looking past the next two games.

“We play in a conference where it’s such a challenge to play on the road. Our last conference losses were on the road in California (a 3-1 loss to Fresno State and a 1-0 loss to SJSU, both away, in 1999),” he said.

SMU returns to Westcott Field at 5:30 p.m. Oct. 18, when the team faces Houston.