SMU Women's Soccer Opens 2010 Season At Home

[PonyPride]

From SMUMustangs.com:

SMU Women's Soccer Opens 2010 Season At Home
Mustangs Host FIU Golden Panthers

Aug. 18, 2010

SMU women's soccer will kick off the 2010 season by hosting Florida International Friday, Aug. 20, at 7 p.m. at Westcott Field. The Mustangs are 20-4 in season openers all-time, and have outscored their opponents 80-19 in those contests.

SMU vs. FIU

The Mustangs are undefeated against the Golden Panthers in six meetings, going 6-0-1 against FIU all-time. This is the first meeting between the two sides since 1995, when SMU beat FIU 1-0 in Dallas. The Ponies eventually advanced to the College Cup Semifinals that season.

SMU 2009 IN REVIEW

In 2009, the Mustangs posted a 7-11-1 overall record. The team finished the season strong, going 5-5-1 in Conference USA and winning three of their last four conference matches. SMU advanced to the conference tournament before falling in the first round to Memphis. Three Ponies were recognized for their outstanding play last season as they were selected by Conference USA for all-league honors. Defender Kaitlyn Eidson was named second-team All-Conference USA, midfielder Kristin Medeiros was named the third-team All-Conference USA, and midfielder Mallory Baum was named to the C-USA All-Freshman team.

NOTEABLE RETURNEES

Sophomore Kenzie Scovill looks to build on the success of her freshman year. The forward led the team in goals last season with six, scoring the game-winners in SMU's wins against North Texas, UTSA and UAB. Scovill also found the back of the net against No. 16 California, Southern Miss and Tulsa... Sophomore keeper Courtney Webb played in every game last season for the Mustangs, posting four shutouts. She will use her experience to lead her team defense as they take on some of the top offenses in the nation this season... Senior midfielder Kristin Medeiros has been a mainstay in the lineup since beginning her career at SMU and provides the Mustangs with both leadership and experience on the field. She tallied two goals and three assists for seven points last season.

NEWCOMERS

Freshman Jessica Bartol comes to the Hilltop as a standout midfielder from the IMG Soccer Academy. She trained with the US-Under 17 National Team and was a member of the Region III and Florida Olympic Development Programs. She was ranked the No. 16 recruit in Florida... Freshman Amanda Burgardt is a forward who played club with Polaris '92. She was a member of the Region III Olympic Development team and was ranked as the No. 54 recruit in the nation and the No. 9 recruit in Texas.

NEXT GAME

SMU will take their first trip of the season to take on No. 5 Portland Aug. 27. The Pilots went 21-2-0 last season, including a 13-0-0 mark at home. Portland reached the NCAA quarterfinals last year, falling 2-1 to UCLA. The Mustangs continue their road trip Aug. 29, as the Ponies take on the Oregon Ducks for the first time in school history.

[PattyMelt]

Hopefully they can improve upon last year's results. Based on this program's history, it's still hard to believe they lost 11 games last year.

[DanFreibergerForHeisman]

This is hopefully going to be a big year! I'll be there Friday - hopefully we will have great support for the season restart match.

[mustangbill67]

A 1-0 win. Good start to the season.

[indianmustang]

congrats to the team

[DanFreibergerForHeisman]

A good result for the Mustangs Friday night.

The first half was rather lackluster from both sides, but SMU really started to pour it on in the second half.

The only real critique is some unnecessarily adventurous wandering out of the 18 from the SMU keeper - even with less than 10 minutes left with the team up 1-0. It almost cost us the game.

On the positive, it was a brilliant build-up to the goal for SMU- and what a perfect way for Lauren Shepherd to start her senior season with the deciding goal in the home opener.

[newmustangfan]

Nice win Friday night! Keeper did stray a couple times, but when she stayed in goal she was awesome. Had a couple of game-saving stops on FIU counter attacks.

[redpony]

Way to go ladies. Just ignore your coach and continue playing winning soccer.

GO PONIES!!!

[RealSMUfan]

Really redpony??? you don't think the win had anything to do with the hard work of ALL the coaches....Brent, Derek, Joe and Megan......here we go again. They lose you bash them, they win you bash them....it has become quite tiresome!

[PattyMelt]

Press release said they take on Oregon for the first time in school history. That is a typo...SMU beat the ducks 2-0 back in 2003.

Glad they could beat FIU, but Portland is a former national champ. This weekend will be a much bigger test for the team.