VIDEO: Petrucelli, Thornton after women's soccer drills ACU

[PonyPride]

SMU women's soccer head coach Chris Petrucelli and freshman forward Allie Thornton visited with PonyFans.com after Thornton's first career hat trick helped the Mustangs roll Abilene Christian, 6-1, giving her seven goals in six games.

[PonyPride]

From SMUMustangs.com:

Thornton, Valadez lead SMU to 6-1 Victory Over Abilene Christian
Thornton completes hat trick, Valadez scores twice in rout

DALLAS (SMU) – In a dominant offensive performance, Allie Thornton and Vanessa Valadez combine for five goals, leading the SMU women's soccer team to a 6-1 victory over Abilene Christian Sunday night at Westcott Field. As a team, the Mustangs scattered 22 shots, with 13 on goal.

The Mustangs improve to 4-2-0, while the Wildcats fall to 1-6-1.

Thornton led the charge for SMU, scoring her first career hat trick on five total shots, and three on goal. She opened scoring in the fifth minute, heading a cross from Jessica Cooley into the far, lower corner. In the 51st minute, Thornton won a one-on-one with starting goalkeeper, Kelsey Dombrowski, and netted her second of the night, by way of through balls from Hannah Fleet and Cooley. Under a minute later (52nd minute), Fleet beat two defenders and fed Thornton who completed the hat trick. The Arlington, Texas native, now has seven goals on the season and 15 points. She has a 65 percent shots on goal rate (13-of-20).

Valadez scored two of her own to help the Mustangs put away the Wildcats. In the 29th minute, Fleet beat two defenders at the top of the 18, before feeding Valadez who scored from eight yards out. In the 48th minute, Valadez headed a corner kick from Haley Thompson, into the lower, near corner of the net. She now has 13 career goals and 33 career points.

Off of a Thompson corner kick, freshman Robyn Maurer scored her second collegiate goal in the 29th minute, by collecting and finishing a volley from Paige Jacobs.

The Mustang defense shined allowing only seven total shots and one on goal. The backline held the Wildcats to three shots in the first 45 minutes, and four in the second.
SMU continues its three-game homestand Friday hosting Saint Louis at 6:30 p.m. The Mustangs close out their non-conference home slate with Washington at 7 p.m. Sunday.

Keep up with all the latest news and information on the Mustangs by following SMU women's soccer on Twitter at @SMUSoccerW, on Facebook at Facebook.com/SMUSoccerw, and on Instagram at Instagram.com/SMUSoccerW.

Postgame notes:
- The last time SMU opened the season with a 4-2 record was in 2011. SMU was a member of Conference USA, Brent Erwin was the head coach and SMU finished 11-8-1.
- The last time SMU opened the season 3-0 at home was in 2012. Chris Petrucelli's first year at the helm of SMU
- SMU is outscoring opponents 26-8. The Mustangs are averaging 4.33 goals per game, while conceding only 1.33.
- The 26 goals scored this season eclipses the 2015 total of 25
- SMU defense has allowed only 58 shots through six games, and only 14 on goal
- The last hat trick by any player and a freshman was Claire Oates on Sept. 25, 2014 at Houston
- The last person to have three assists in a game was Vanessa Valadez on Sept. 11, 2015 vs. Sam Houston State.