The SMU women’s soccer team suffered its first conference loss in almost a year Sunday afternoon as it went 1-1 on the weekend.
The team continued to struggle to find its form from just a few weeks ago as it notched a 2-1 win over the Houston Cougars Friday evening and fell 2-1 in double overtime to Rice Sunday afternoon in C-USA games at Westcott Field.
The Mustangs (8-4-1, 2-1 C-USA) continued to look flat Friday evening when they took on the Cougars (6-4-1, 1-2 C-USA). Sophomore forward Kimber Bailey put the Mustangs up early when she one-timed a cross from her twin sister, forward Krystal Bailey.
The goal was Kimber Bailey’s 12th of the season. She is averaging one goal per game so far this season. Krystal Bailey’s assist was her second of the season.
But, the Mustangs let Houston control parts of the midfield, and that control paid off for the Cougars in the 42nd minute when a Jessica Green corner kick was headed home by Kristin Bay.
SMU caught a lucky break in the 73rd minute when it got an own-goal from the Cougars. Morgan Field took a 25-yard free kick that bounced off the head of a Houston defender and into the net.
“They scored two goals in the game; fortunately, one of them was for us,” SMU head coach John Cossaboon said. “We’re creating chances and getting along, but we’re still in search of that intensity we saw against Pepperdine and USC. We’ve got to keep looking for it.”
SMU out-shot Houston 15-6 for the game and managed to put seven shots on goal to Houston’s four.
Against Rice (7-5, 3-1 C-USA), SMU managed 14 shots and seven shots on goal, but only got on the scoreboard once. In the 59th minute, junior defender Ashley Watson scored her first goal of the season when she headed an Olivia O’Rear corner kick into the net.
The lead lasted just over five minutes before Clory Martin stole the ball from an SMU defender and beat freshman goalkeeper Ashley Gunter with a high shot.
The game remained tied through the first overtime, where both teams had one shot but no shots on goal. In the 119th minute, just over one minute until the game would have ended in a tie, the Owls’ Samantha Conn took a centering pass from Martin at the top of the box and beat Gunter from long-range.
Perhaps the most notable statistic from the game was the foul count. The two teams combined to commit 44 fouls, 23 for SMU and 21 for Rice.
“I think [getting better] will come,” freshman defender Carley Phillips said after Friday’s game. “We need to work more as a team, play a more possession style of game. But right now, we just aren’t seeing that. We’ve just got to keep working at it.”
The Mustangs will go on their first C-USA road trip ever next weekend when they visit the always-dangerous UTEP Miners and take on the displaced Tulane Green Wave at its temporary home in College Station, Texas.
The team’s next home games are the last weekend in October, when it hosts UAB and Memphis in the last regular season games of the year.
