WOMEN'S SOCCER BREAKS SKID

[SMUguy]

SMU Women's Soccer Shuts Out Rice, 2-0
Carter scores second game-winner of the year



Caitlin Carter scored her second game-winner of 2007 against Rice.



Oct. 26, 2007


DALLAS (SMU) - Junior Caitlin Carter converted a crossing pass from senior midfielder Allison Brill into her second goal - and second game-winning goal - of the season to lift the SMU women's soccer team to a 2-0 victory over the visiting Rice Owls.

The Mustangs improved to 6-7-1 on the season and 2-5-0 in Conference USA games, while the Owls dropped 9-5-2 overall and 3-2-1 in C-USA games.

The teams battled through a scoreless first half before Carter put the Ponies ahead to stay. Brill crossed a free kick from close to the right corner flag to Carter, who fired a shot from eight yards out in the 56th minute. The Mustangs got an insurance goal in the 77th minute when senior forward Kimber Bailey stole the ball and threaded a long lead pass through the Owls' defense to senior forward Brittainy Vice, who beat Rice goalkeeper Meghan Erkel inside the left goalpost.

Junior SMU goalkeeper Ashley Gunter turned aside all seven Rice shots on goal to notch her third shutout of the season and 21st of her career. With one more shutout, she will pass Becca Lief and tie Kim Kyle for the third-most shutouts in SMU history.

The Mustangs will return to the field at 1 p.m. Sunday afternoon to take on the Houston Cougars at Westcott Field, the site of all three remaining games on SMU's regular-season schedule. To see a complete schedule and for ticket information, log on to SMUMustangs.com.

[mustangbill67]

The women's team have two more conference games, Houston and Tulsa, both at home. I believe we need to win both of them to get into the post season Conf USA tournament. These are games we should win as both of these teams are struggling. The win over Rice was big.

[DallasDiehard]

Beat Houston yesterday - 2-0, for our second straight shutout. Ashley Gunther even turned away a PK .... great to see that for her. We definitely have to beat Tulsa, but the last game - North Texas State - isn't a conference game. I think we have to beat Tulsa and get some help from other C-USA teams, but I'm not sure. Anyone know for sure?

[peaker]

If I am reading the conference standings correctly, the women have to win on Friday and ECU must lose both of their remaining 2 games.

[mustangbill67]

Believe you are right. E. Car plays UAB and Memphis both of which are ahead of E. Car. in the standiings. So could happen but not a good situation to be in. From a quickl look, it appears we would lose a tie breaker if E. Car were to lose one and tie one. Never dreamed we would be on the brink of elimination. Hope recruiting is going well.

[PonyPride]

I think you're right. An SMU loss to Tulsa this Friday (COME OUT TO WESTCOTT FIELD AND BE LOUD!), of course, ends the discussion altogether. Depending on how things go, it's possible SMU could end up in a tie with East Carolina or a tie with ECU and Southern Miss (somehow, I don't think it's possible to tie just Southern Miss .... I'll check).

Anywhooooo, ties are broken in a list of tiebreakers that is longer than one of George S. Patton's rants (thank you, thank you, I'll be here all week — tip your waitress). The first tiebreaker is head-to-head competition: SMU and ECU don't play this year, and SMU lost to Southern Miss, so if it's a three-way tie, that doesn't bode well. The second tiebreaker is phrased something like "record against common opponents in descending order of winning percentage." The PonyFans.com lawyer cartel likely could explain more clearly than this, but the way it was explained to me was they find the highest-rated team to play both (or all three) tied teams — in this case, Memphis — and compare results. SMU lost to Memphis, 3-1, so in the event of a tie, SMU needs Memphis to pummel ECU. Not sure how Memphis did against Southern Miss.... Then you find the second-ranked team that both/all tied teams played (UAB, I think), and compare those results.

And so on ....
And so on ....
And ....

And I understand recruiting is going exceptionally well.

[Oldkeeper]

The women beat Tulsa and it's a done deal...it's just a matter of where they end up seeded. So get some fans out there like the RIce game and get the job done.
Two good wins this weekend. Rice game not pretty to watch but the counter attacks for goals were nice. Good finishing. Houston could have been a blow out but they packed it in. Gunter makes key stop on PK to preserve 1-0 lead then the freshman "mafia" come in late and put on an impressive performance and get the assurance goal from Shepherd.

[mustangbill67]

The women beat Tulsa and it's a done deal...it's just a matter of where they end up seeded. So get some fans out there like the RIce game and get the job done.
Two good wins this weekend. Rice game not pretty to watch but the counter attacks for goals were nice. Good finishing. Houston could have been a blow out but they packed it in. Gunter makes key stop on PK to preserve 1-0 lead then the freshman "mafia" come in late and put on an impressive performance and get the assurance goal from Shepherd.

How did you arrive at that conclusion? Only the top 8 teams get in the tournament and even with a win over Tulsa we are not in the top 8 without some help.

[Oldkeeper]

You are correct, I stand corrected , but I believe East Carolina's should lose to Memphis...Memphis is the best team in the league and the best we played all year...the UAB game is up in the air. Marshall should lose to UCF. UAB should be in, playing Marshall after E.C. So I guess we do need a bad weekend for EC.
Get us to 12 points and lets see what happens.

From C-USA:
Oct. 30, 2007


Entering the final weekend of league play, C-USA teams have clinched a spot in the 2007 Conference USA Women's Soccer Championship, hosted by UTEP Nov. 7-11. One spot is up for grabs, but East Carolina can punch their ticket with a win or pair of ties this weekend even if SMU defeats Tulsa in its finale. UCF will host Southern Miss in a key match that could give the Knights the No. 1 seed for the second time in three years.