VIDEO: women's soccer blanks Temple, 2-0

[PonyPride]

From SMUMustangs.com:

No. 16 SMU Defeats Temple 2-0

DALLAS (SMU) – No. 16 SMU women's soccer defeated Temple, 2-0, at the Washburne Soccer and Track Stadium Wednesday. The Mustangs wore pink kits to raise funds and awareness for breast cancer research.

The shutout, SMU's eighth of the season, featured a 25-3 shot differential between the Mustangs and the Owls, with SMU placing 12 shots on goal.

"I felt like we played pretty well, and we had the ball a lot," said head coach Chris Petrucelli of his team's performance. "We created chances, and were pretty good throughout the game…pretty dominant."

With the win, SMU improved to 9-2-2 overall and 3-1-2 in the American Athletic Conference. The record includes a 5-1-1 mark at home.

Temple goalkeeper Kamryn Stablein had seven saves in the first half, but Alina Khan gave her no chance in the 32nd minute. With the ball near the end line, Sammy Nieves put the brakes on and delivered a perfect pass that found Khan in stride. The sophomore hit the shot with her first touch and placed the ball perfectly across the goal into the top left corner.

While Temple (5-6-3, 2-4-0 The American) added just one to its shot total in the second half, SMU came out on the front foot again, putting four of 11 second-half shots on target. The one that made it to the back of the net came on a close-range rocket from Brigitta Pulins.

Dribbling alone through the midfield with teammates on either wing, Pulins sent the ball to Lindsey Whitmore on the left inside the 18-yard box. Whitmore unselfishly sent the ball back across the box to Pulins who buried it into the back of the net from jus six yards away.

"The concern coming in was where are the goals going to come from? Fortunately, Alina (Khan) got one and Brigitta (Pulins) got one," Petrucelli explained.

Khan, who started the match, and Pulins found themselves playing more minutes at the top of the SMU attack as Wayny Balata and Jasmine Vilgrain did not play due to injury.

Petrucelli also made a change at the back end of the formation as goalkeeper Samatha Estrada returned to the lineup, making saves on all three of Temple's shots.

"She's [Estrada] been playing great in training, and we have a good problem. We have two really good ones," Petrucelli said of his goalkeeping duo. "Sam has been ready to play for a number of weeks. She took an injury early in the year, but she's healthy now. She's back to being Sam."

The Mustangs play their final home match of the regular season Sunday against Tulsa at 1 p.m. SMU will honor its seniors in a ceremony after the match.