Women's Soccer - SMU vs. ECU

[DanFreibergerForHeisman]

Sunday is Senior Day for the women's soccer team at Westcott Field, with the Mustangs facing East Carolina at 2pm.

While it will obviously be a bittersweet day for SMU fans to see the home careers of Courtney Webb, Kaitlyn Eidson, and Katherine Cox come to an end, hopefully the Mustangs will take care of business and finish the home season with a big win.

SMU is solidly in second place in C-USA right now, and needs to take all three points Sunday to put us in position to finish second and get a bye in the conference tournament.

Friday night featured the return of Rikki Clarke (25 minutes), and Olivia Elliott also played 80 minutes (after only playing 7 against UAB). Unfortunately, leading scorer Kenzie Scovill appeared to suffer an upper-body injury of some sort Friday night so her availability for Sunday is certainly in question.

No matter what, this SMU team has shown a lot of resiliency this year and players have been stepping up and playing other positions all season long - which is great to see. At this point there is no room for any excuses.

Go Ponies!

[DanFreibergerForHeisman]

SMU lost 1-0 in OT. ECU scored with 3 seconds left in the first OT when SMU somehow gave up a 3-on-1 that ended up being a 5-on-2.

Webb played it perfectly but the ECU player was able to just slide it into the net.

Same old story. SMU hit two posts and the crossbar in the second half but regulation still ended 0-0.

[DanFreibergerForHeisman]

Well, if there is any silver lining to today the results around C-USA were all good for SMU.

Memphis beat Colorado College, UAB beat UTEP, and UCF dropped points again in a draw with Houston. So, SMU is still in a tie for second in the conference.

[ClassOf81]

That was a tough pill to swallow. I really felt badly for them. Losing is one thing, but in the final seconds of a period like that - ouch. It seemed to make the Senior Day tribute a little less festive (is it always at the end of games? I thought traditionally that happens before games. Am I wrong?)

I thought we had 3 or 4 shots that couldn't miss, and somehow did. We hit at least one goalpost and just missed a couple of more. Close but no cigar.

Where was #19 who usually starts at forward? I wonder if the result might have been different with her in the lineup.

[DanFreibergerForHeisman]

Where was #19 who usually starts at forward? I wonder if the result might have been different with her in the lineup.

Leading scorer Kenzie Scovill injured her shoulder Friday night - she had it in a sling yesterday.

[Otto]

Women's soccer has done senior day stuff after games for a couple of years now.
I don't know of any other team that does it that way, because of games like Sunday's. A tough loss makes it hard to smile for pictures, you know?

[LoudnProudPonyFan]

Where was #19 who usually starts at forward? I wonder if the result might have been different with her in the lineup.

Junior Kenzie Scovill seems to be the momentum behind their offense...think that showed yesterday. We heard it's a pretty bad separation. Sure hope they figure out a way to get her back in the lineup for the upcoming weekend against Colorado College and UTEP. SMU could fall far out of 2nd place if they don't get a good result.

[DanFreibergerForHeisman]

Women's soccer has done senior day stuff after games for a couple of years now.
I don't know of any other team that does it that way, because of games like Sunday's. A tough loss makes it hard to smile for pictures, you know?

I assume it has to be an Erwin thing. Maybe the events of yesterday will change their mind going forward.

It was one of the most tense and awkward things I have ever witnessed, and it's really a shame because Kaitlyn, Katherine, and Courtney have really been a big part of getting the program turned around and back on the path to respectability.

They are the only players left from that 17-player 2008 class when Erwin basically blew the whole thing up - and obviously they have been through a ton of ups and downs over the years.

[DanFreibergerForHeisman]

Where was #19 who usually starts at forward? I wonder if the result might have been different with her in the lineup.

Junior Kenzie Scovill seems to be the momentum behind their offense...think that showed yesterday. We heard it's a pretty bad separation. Sure hope they figure out a way to get her back in the lineup for the upcoming weekend against Colorado College and UTEP. SMU could fall far out of 2nd place if they don't get a good result.

The optimist looks at the standings and sees SMU in 2nd place - the pessimist realizes we are only three points above 7th and potentially missing the conference tournament.

Thankfully, SMU/Tulsa/Colorado College/UTEP all play each other to close the season so a couple of wins for SMU will also be directly hurting the teams right around us in the standings. UCF still has to play Memphis too. Rice has a pretty easy finish though.

[NewSMOOFan]

The optimist looks at the standings and sees SMU in 2nd place - the pessimist realizes we are only three points above 7th and potentially missing the conference tournament.

Thankfully, SMU/Tulsa/Colorado College/UTEP all play each other to close the season so a couple of wins for SMU will also be directly hurting the teams right around us in the standings. UCF still has to play Memphis too. Rice has a pretty easy finish though.[/quote]

I believe this year the top 8 teams go to the tournament and the top two no longer get the bye.

[DanFreibergerForHeisman]

I believe this year the top 8 teams go to the tournament and the top two no longer get the bye.

You are correct!

http://conferenceusa.cstv.com/sports/w-soccer/spec-rel/w-soccer-format.html

Top eight finishers in regular season standings qualify for single-elimination tournament with the winner gaining the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Championship.

[mathman]

I believe this year the top 8 teams go to the tournament and the top two no longer get the bye.

You are correct!

http://conferenceusa.cstv.com/sports/w-soccer/spec-rel/w-soccer-format.html

Top eight finishers in regular season standings qualify for single-elimination tournament with the winner gaining the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Championship.

I just want to say how much I appreciate all the info you give on the soccer program. I do have season tickets to football but since I live in East Texas it is a 4 hour round trip to see a game. Thus I simply haven't made it to any of the soccer games. Even with all the stuff going on in football right now, "other sports" is the first one I look at hoping for an update on our "other sports". Just wanted you to know that there are some of us out here who look forward to all the info you make available to us.

[DanFreibergerForHeisman]

This eight team thing really does put an interesting twist on the tournament. Memphis will obviously end up with the 1 seed, but there is a very realistic chance UCF and Rice end up 4 and 5 which would put all three of those teams on the same side of the bracket.

SMU probably needs to pick up a minimum of 7 points in the final 3 games to guarantee being on the 2-3-6-7 side of the bracket.

Nine points in the final three sounds better to me though!