Valadez goal not enough as women's soccer falls, 2-1

[PonyPride]

From SMUMustangs.com:

Valadez Scores Late Penalty Kick But Mustangs Fall To Kansas
SMU will take on Texas Southern on Sunday at 7:30 p.m. CT at Westcott Field

Aug. 28, 2015

DALLAS (SMU) – Vanessa Valadez’s penalty kick goal was not enough as the Mustangs fell to Kansas in their regular season home opener, Friday at Westcott Field.

Valadez calmly sent the penalty shot in the upper left corner of the net to bring it to 2-1 with just eight minutes left in the match. The Mustangs began to push up the field looking to tie the score.

SMU earned a corner kick two minutes after the Valadez goal and Claire Oates connected a header that went over the bar, just inches from going in. In the 86th minute, Hannah Fleet found herself right in front of the goal, but her shot was saved by the Kansas goalkeeper.

The Mustangs would get two more corner kicks in the contest, but was unable to get the tie, leaving the final score, 2-1 in favor of the Jayhawks.

“When we went down after that second goal I felt like we responded real well, but it was too late,” head coach Chris Petrucelli said about the closing moments of the match. “We played our best that last 10 minutes of the game, but that needed to happen earlier.”

SMU held the possession early in the match and was in the Kansas offensive third for much of the first half, securing six corner kicks compared to Kansas’ 0. Blair Thorpe and Oates had three shots a piece and the Mustangs tallied 11 total.

Goalkeeper Shannon Moroney made four saves and has 11 on the season.

Kansas’ Parker Roberts and Grace Hagan scored their first goals of the season.The Mustangs will be back in action against Texas Southern on Sunday at 7:30 p.m. CT at Westcott Field. Petrucelli said that creating chances will be the key to winning that game.

“We got to be better going forward, we got to get some of those guys up front, create chances and score some goals,” Petrucelli said.