Women’s soccer rolls over Hawaii Rainbow

After Friday’s game against Houston was rained out, the Lady Mustangs returned to the field on Saturday, defeating the Hawaii Rainbow Wahine 4-0. SMU led 1-0 at halftime, then pulled away with 3 second half goals.

SMU improved its overall record to 8-4-3, while maintaining an undefeated WAC record at 4-0-1.

Hawaii kept the Lady Mustangs off the board until the 41st minute, when sophomore Amanda Jordan scored her first goal of the season. Standing outside of the penalty box, Jordan struck a rocket that found the upper right corner of Hawaii’s net, eluding goalkeeper Mahie Atay.

After the halftime break, the Mustangs continued to pressure, resulting in three more unanswered goals. Sophomore Jill Heinemann headed a cross from midfielder Misty Noland over Atay in the 62nd minute, followed by Lauren Mussallem’s fifth goal of the season at 72:16. Junior Ashley VanMeter capped the scoring with her first goal of the season in the 78th minute, breaking away with a pass from Heinemann.

SMU goalkeeper Erin McLeod recorded her fourth shutout of the season, facing 14 shots from the Rainbow Wahine, with only six of those shots being on goal, and most coming in the game’s final 10 minutes.

“I tried to keep my legs moving,” McLeod, who only made one save in the first half, said, “and I was directing my defense, so that I was involved in the game.”

This game marked the seventh time this season the Lady Mustangs have scored 3 or more goals in a game, but this time they did it without the preseason WAC Player of the Year, Tara Comfort.

“Tara just pulled her thigh a little in warm-ups.” Mustang coach George Van Linder said. “It was a little cold and damp today, so we only kept her out as a precaution.”

Comfort’s absence prompted some shuffling in the starting lineup, with freshman midfielder Jennifer Martin getting her first home start of the year.

“I used to be a little nervous at the beginning of the year,” Martin said, “but I knew I just had to step it up.”

Most of Hawaii’s chances came in the final minutes of the game, when players began to run at the SMU defense. “It’s hard to keep up the concentration for 90 minutes,” Van Linder said. “We didn’t really do that today, and they took advantage of it.”

“I think defense was the last thing on our minds,” McLeod said. “Everyone wanted to score.”

The Mustangs finish their home stand at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, when they take on UNT at Westcott Field. Even though UNT is a non-conference foe, the coach is confident that the intensity will still be there.

“We’re on a little bit of a roll right now,” Van Linder said, “and we’re going to keep it up.”