Decisive victory over Duquesne sets standard for women’s team
First impressions can sometimes mislead, but SMU women’s soccer made a great one last Friday night.
In their first game of the 2002 season, the 24th ranked Lady Mustangs posted a 5-1 victory over the Duquesne University Dukes at Westcott Field. Both goalkeeper Erin McLeod and defender Sasha Andrews, key starters on last year’s team, were in Canada playing for the Canadian National Team in the U-19 FIFA World Championship, making the win even more impressive.
“We found out that we like to score,” said junior forward Ashley VanMeter, who had 2 shots for the night. “That’s a good sign.”
Though the game got off to a choppy start, SMU quickly emerged as dominant team. After several quality saves by Duquesne goalkeeper Kristin Scharphorn, junior Lauren Mussallem put the Mustangs on the board by slotting the ball to the right of Scharphorn in the 28th minute. She also scored a breakaway goal in the 63rd minute.
“They were just awesome balls,” said Mussallem, a transfer student from the University of Portland.
“They were just great. I didn’t know if I was going to go after the second ball for a second, but I just went for it. Why not?”
Tara Comfort , pre-season WAC Player of the Year, played very well while notching a goal and two assists. Rounding out the Mustang scoring were Erin MacCallum, who put away a rebound off the crossbar, and Jill Heinemann, who hit a beautiful shot that curled near the far post. Kim Harvey and Diana Kelm each earned their first assists of the season, while freshman starter Jennifer Martin recorded the first of her college career.
Duquesne preferred to knock in high balls, rarely threatening the solid SMU defense. Defender Amanda Jordan was critical in stopping their most potent Duke attacks. The Dukes’ only goal came on a penalty kick taken by Katie Schwager in the 54th minute.
Despite out shooting the Dukes 28 to 5, the SMU game still showed a few minor problems. Most notably, they were caught offsides 13 times.
“We were moving too North-South and not enough East-West,” coach George Van Linder said. “We can’t get into a track meet; we beat ourselves.”
Still, Van Linder was pleased overall.
“I’m really excited with the result and the score,” he said, associating this year’s squad with the 2001 team that finished the year ranked 21st nationally. “We got so many people back from last year. I believe it’s realistic to think we can do better this year.”
