Women's soccer falls, 3-2, at Cal

[PonyPride]

From SMUMustangs.com:

Salama Scores Twice As SMU Closes Out Its Season Against California

BERKELEY, Calif. (SMU) — Forward Eliana Salama scored twice in the SMU women's soccer program's final match of the season but fell 3-2 on the road to California on Sunday inside Edwards Stadium.

In a hard-fought physical match that saw four second-half goals, the Mustangs equalized the match twice off the foot of Salama but were unable to answer California's third goal late in the second half.

Salama recorded her second brace this season, bringing her career-high season goal total to 10. She has now netted a team-high six goals during conference action.

She scored her first goal right at the beginning of the second half in the 47th minute, then added her second of the match in the 58th minute after Cal had taken the lead back shortly before.

Playing in her final match as a Mustang graduate student, Mackenzie Rudden earned the assist on Salama's first goal. Freshman Liz Eddy also earned assists on both of the Mustang's goals, as she now leads the team in assists with five.

Graduate goalkeeper Sierra Cota-Yarde finished her final collegiate season by ending the match with five saves, bringing her season total to 77. It is the most saves by an SMU goalkeeper in a single season since former Mustang Courtney Webb recorded 100 during the 2010 season

SMU is now 6-9-2 (2-6-2 ACC) this season, while the Golden Bears improved to 11-5-2 (4-4-1 ACC) on the year.

// HOW IT HAPPENED
Trailing 1-0 at the end of the first half, the Mustangs came out the break attacking on offense. Using a feed from Rudden and Eddy, Salama slipped one past Cal's goalkeeper to tie the match at one a piece.

However, Cal didn't take long to answer as they recaptured the lead in the 50th minute.

The Mustang's was clicking on all cylinders early in the second half as Liz Eddy drove deep into the box before sending a cross to Salama who found the back of the night for the second time.

It marked her second career multi-goal game as she scored twice against Miami earlier this season.

Cal continued to rattle off shot after shot recording 14 in each half. In the 65th minute Cal used a deep feed into the box to score the match deciding goal.

The Mustangs fought to equalize the match for the third time but were unable to find the back of the net late in the match.

// OTHER NOTES
With Salama eclipsing double-digit goals, it marked the first time since the 2019 and 2018 seasons the Mustangs have had at least one player score 10 or more goals in a single season.
In her third season as head coach of the Mustangs, Nicole Nelson is now 27-19-8 overall at SMU.
The Mustangs are now 468-249-61 all-time in program history.