W-Soccer Shuts Out UTEP 1-0

[RealSMUfan]

DALLAS (SMU) - The SMU women's soccer team defeated UTEP 1-0 Friday night at Westcott Field. Junior Kaitlyn Eidson scored the game's lone goal. With the win, SMU moves to 8-4-2 on the year and is now 3-2-0 in Conference USA action.


"I think the team played quite well," said associate head coach Derek Leader. "We had a tough opponent in UTEP. Just to find a way to win and score an early goal off a set piece, something we've been working on, was positive."


Eidson headed in a goal in just the ninth minute of play on a cross from defender Courtney Smith. The goal was Eidson's second of the season, second game-winner and second in as many games.


Goalkeeper Courtney Webb, reigning C-USA Defensive Player of the Week, picked up the shutout for SMU. She made a diving save in the 75th minute on UTEP's Melissa Desilets to preserve the clean sheet. The shutout was Webb's third consecutive shutout and seventh of the season.


Forward Kenzie Scovill led all players with five shots. She nailed one shot off the crossbar and hit another off the inside of the post that bounced out.


"We've defintely turned this season around," said Leader. "We started off slow in the conference, and the team has come together and really turned things around. We're on a roll with three wins and are hoping for another one on Sunday."


SMU hosts Colorado College Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. at Westcott Field

[DanFreibergerForHeisman]

Courtney Smith hit the crossbar on a free kick from about 25 yards as well. We definitely could have scored more than 1 - and probably should have.

I'll take the win, but we can play better than that!

[PonyFan]

Didn't realize it was Smith who hit the crossbar, and I'm not sure she was shooting ... kind of looked like she was crossing the ball. But even without that play, there were several other scoring chances. UTEP's keeper made a few really good stops. We were three or four goals better than them.
Good job, Ponies!

[Dabney Wombat]

Both teams had missed opportunities, as is usually the case in a relatively close matchup. We hit iron 3 times and they failed to convert on at least 2 or 3 short-range headers.

I was pretty impressed with UTEP. They have speed at a number of positions and some pretty skilled players. However, Spider put in another solid performance and for the most part I thought we showed a bend-but-don't-break D in smothering a number of threats before they could finish. Also, thought UTEP worked the ball around well in the 1st half but in the 2nd our girls anticipated much better and picked off numerous passes.

A 1-0 win over UTEP is the same result achieved by the team presently perched atop the C-USA standings. I will take the win as well as the score.

[PonyFan]

I'll take the win, and yes, Webb ("Spider") made some nice plays. But other than #17, there was nothing about UTEP that was impressive. We were the better team by a significant margin.

[DanFreibergerForHeisman]

I'll take the win, and yes, Webb ("Spider") made some nice plays. But other than #17, there was nothing about UTEP that was impressive. We were the better team by a significant margin.

Some credit has to go to UTEP, but we were way too sloppy in midfield.

I also felt we were not as aggressive as we should have been. We should have taken it to them but seemed to be content trying to sit on the 1-0 lead which is kind of scary.

UTEP turned it on towards the end and thankfully it didn't end up in our net thanks to some great defense by Smith and Shepherd as well as the reliable Webb.

[DanFreibergerForHeisman]

As an example of passive play - when we have an offensive throw-in two yards from the corner flag, Courtney Smith just has to take it. It's like a free corner kick.

There were some times like that where Smith started to come up to get involved in the play and Erwin was screaming for her to get back. I don't care how many people UTEP has near midfield somebody else can help guard against any potential counter attack.

Anyway, we did hit the wood three times (and also had a great second chance on one of them from a nice header from Burghardt), and if it was 2-0 or 3-0 nobody would have a problem with any of the potential issues that creep in with a 1-0 win.

Go Ponies and whip Colorado College on Sunday!

[Dabney Wombat]

My apologies if in this thread I actually was overly generous in trying to credit our players for last Friday night's achievement.

Recently, upon reading in this forum that injuries had wiped out our midfield I wondered what Kristin M. (she could generally be classified as a starting midfielder, correct?) in particular would think of that "observation". Then came the analogy drawn between the Dallas Cowboys and SMU women's soccer regarding the injury situation in which it was stated that the hypothetical Cowboys players subbing for the hypothetically injured starters were "awful", that they "sucked". It seemed (and still seems) to me that the only logical inference to be drawn from such an analogy is that the SMU counterparts to the hypothetical Cowboys subs, those players subbing for SMU's injured starters, likewise are "awful" and "suck". As a result I have, of late, found myself in somewhat of a defensive mode with respect to our players, some of whom, I presume (having seen congrats offered to them here), occasionally, if not frequently, look in on what's being said here.

Despite being hit by the injury plague this team has strung together 3 consecutive wins. The team just beaten, I believe, has talent enough to finish in the upper half of the conference, perhaps easily. UTEP has added an "L" to Memphis' record and bombarded UAB with 29 shots, including 15 shots on goal, in beating them. I sought to emphasise, yesterday, that a quality team bit the dust Friday night, that to achieve that result alone, regardless of the final score, took some quality play on the part of our girls. If I was "under-critical" of our team in my remarks, if I did indeed cut our players a bit of slack, understand that I was primed by the external influences mentioned above to do so.

Dan, appreciate the thoughtful follow-up posts. Some good points made.

And, BTW, I'm expecting better than 1-0 today. Let's get it done.

[DanFreibergerForHeisman]

Oh I agree Wombat.

We are a bit short-handed but there is still a very good core out there. Plus, Erwin is moving players around quite a bit during the game (either to see how they do or out of necessity). For instance, earlier in the year he could roll out the same back four for 90 minutes and not even think about it which makes a huge difference in the team defense throughout the match.

Friday, I was especially impressed with how we took UTEP's physical play and didn't get sucked into a chippy game. UTEP led 15-4 in fouls and flat out tackled (American football tackle!) Amanda Burghardt twice that I remember, but we never fell into retaliating, etc. That takes incredible discipline and that credit goes to the players and the coaching staff.

[ponytony]

UTEP was the dirtiest team we've played. The 15 fouls called against them were only the ones the refs saw. There were probably 10 more wrestling and jersey-grabbing fouls that the refs were shielded from. They lost again today, this time to Tulsa 1-0. Tulsa's goal was scored, not surprisingly, on a PK.