SMU Hosts Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Sunday

Sunday, August 28

Dallas, Texas

5:30 p.m.

SMU

Texas A&M - Corpus Christi

Buy Tickets

SMU Hosts Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Sunday

Aug 27 | Women's Soccer

Kickoff scheduled for 5:30 p.m.; Live Stream on PonyUp TV

SMU (1-0-0, 0-0-0The American) vs. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi ( 0-3-0, 0-0 The Southland)
Date & Kickoff Time	Sun., Aug. 28 at 5:30 p.m.
Location	Westcott Field - Dallas, Texas
Video	PonyUp TV Play-by-play: Steve Lansdale // Producer: Spencer Jones
Live Stats	Live Stats
Tickets	Tickets // 214-SMU-GAME (214-768-4263)
Game Info	Game Notes (.pdf)
Facebook	SMU WSOC \| SMU Mustangs
Twitter	@SMUSoccerW \| @SMUMustangs

The SMU women's soccer team hosts Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Sunday at Westcott Field at 5:30 p.m. The match will be televised by SMU on PonyUp TV. The Mustangs enter the contest with a 1-0-0 record, while the Islanders are 0-3-0 through the first two weeks of the season. Fans can get tickets by calling 214-SMU-GAME (214-768-4263) or visiting SMUMustangs.com/tickets.

SCOUTING SMU: The Mustangs enter Sunday with a 1-0-0 record after a dominating 8-0 rout over Northwestern State Thursday night in their first official game. On the offensive end, freshman Allie Thornton and sophomore Haley Thompson lead the Mustangs with two goals apiece. Vanessa Valadez, Hannah Fleet, Paige Jacobs and Robyn Maurer all have one goal, respectively. Thornton and Valadez each have a team-high seven shots, while Thornton leads the way with four shots on goal. Defensively, Taylor Barg continues to anchor the back line, logging a full 90 minutes. Barg and the defense held the Demons to eight shots, none on goal.

ABOUT TEXAS A&M-CORPUS CHRISTI: The Islanders are 0-3-0 overall, and coming off a 4-0 loss at North Texas. During the three-game losing streak, Corpus Christi has scored only one goal, which was recorded by redshirt sophomore Kaitlyn Joy. The goal is her first goal as an Islander, and is the first time a sophomore has opened the scoring for Corpus Christi. She has three career goals, with two during her stint at Idaho. Senior forward Yvette Franco is someone to keep an eye on, as she has scored 15 goals in 44 games for the Islanders. The Islanders as a team have only taken 15 shots over the course of the opening week (5.0/game), with seven on goal (46.7 percent). Corpus Christi is coming off a record-setting season, where it posted five victories for the first time in program history. Last season, AMCC finished 5-11-2 overall, with a 5-5-1 mark in Southland Conference action and made its first appearance in the Southland Conference Tournament.

SERIES: The Mustangs and Islanders have never met before. Against teams in the American Athletic Conference, Corpus Christi holds a 0-2-1 all-time mark.

LAST TIME OUT: The SMU women's soccer team dominated from start to finish, as the Mustangs rolled to an 8-0 shutout over Northwestern State, Thursday night at Westcott Field. Six different Mustangs scored, including freshman forward Allie Thornton and sophomore defender Haley Thompson who converted two apiece. On the offensive end, 14 Mustangs took at least one shot with 11 posting a shot on goal. As a collective, SMU tallied 43 shots and 23 shots on goal. Twenty-eight of the 43 shots came in the second 45 minutes. The back line kept opposing strikers at bay, allowing eight shots the entire game with no shots on goal.

UP NEXT: Following the match against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, the Mustangs head to Bloomington, Indiana, for the Hoosier Challenge Cup. The Mustangs open action on Friday, Sept. 2 against Butler, before facing host-school Indiana on Monday, Sept. 5. The Bulldogs are 1-1-1 after a 1-0 loss to Indiana Friday night. Butler will take on Akron Sunday before seeing the Mustangs. The Hoosiers sport a 1-1-1 record as well. Indiana will take on Northern Colorado and LSU before squaring off against the Mustangs. SMU and Butler will square off for the first time in program histories. The Mustangs hold a 1-0 edge all-time against Indiana.

BIG WINS: SMU scored eight goals in its season opener over Northwestern State, marking the 58th time in program history that the Mustangs have scored five or more goals in a game. When SMU scores at least five goals, the Mustangs hold an undefeated 58-0 record, and have posted a clean sheet 35 times. The last time SMU scored at least eight goals was on Aug. 29, 2003 when SMU scored 10 goals at Sam Houston State. SMU went on to win the game, 10-1.

ROSTER: Of the 25 woman roster, 16 members are in their freshman or sophomore year of eligibility, while sporting just five seniors. The Mustangs brought in 10 freshman. SMU returns eight starters including five (Vanessa Valadez, Claire Oates, Taylor Barg, Taylor Jackson and Kelsey Gorney) who started every game in 2015. Hannah Fleet returns to the pitch in 2016 after suffering a season-ending injury last season. Fleet, a redshirt freshman, scored her second career goal in the 63rd minute against Northwestern State in her first game back from injury.

SCHEDULE: The SMU women's soccer team will play 19 regular season games, with 11 at Westcott Field. The Mustangs will face six opponents that appeared in the 2015 NCAA Tournament, Butler, BYU, Washington, UCF, Connecticut and Cincinnati.

HEAD COACH CHRIS PETRUCELLI: Two-time National Coach of the Year and 1995 NCAA Championship Coach Chris Petrucelli enters his fifth season (2016) as SMU Head Women's Soccer Coach. A veteran of 20-plus years as a head coach, Petrucelli was named the NSCAA National Coach of the Year in both 1994 and 1995 and was lauded as the NSCAA Central Region Coach of the Year in both 2002 and 2006. In 26 years as a head coach, Petrucelli has compiled a 371-151-44 (.698) record. His record at SMU is 31-41-8 (.438).

VANESSA VALADEZ: As a redshirt freshman, started all 18 games and led SMU with eight goals (7th AAC), 20 points (9th AAC), 1.11 points per game (6th AAC), shots (42) and shots on goal (20). The 2015 AAC All-Rookie Team honoree was also tied for the team-lead in assists (4).

TAYLOR BARG: Since her arrival on the Hilltop, she has played and started all 59 games for the Mustangs. As a dynamic playmaker in the backfield, in 2015 Barg was third on the team in minutes played (1,624), played 90 minutes or more in 15 games and helped seal two shutout victories a season ago. In the classroom, was named to the 2015 CoSIDA Academic All-District Seven Women's Soccer Second Team.

WESTCOTT FIELD: Since opening in 1994, SMU holds a .728 winning percentage (148-54-18) at Westcott Field. In 22 seasons at Westcott, the Mustangs have finished .500 or better in 20 seasons, with three perfect seasons.

AAC POLL: The SMU women's soccer team has been picked to finish eighth in the American Athletic Conference for the 2016 season. SMU received 20 votes and finished ahead of Houston in the poll. Defending champion Connecticut was the unanimous selection for first place, garnering 81 total points, and nine first-place votes. For the second season in a row, junior Claire Oates was named to the AAC Preseason All-Conference team.

CAREER GOALS/ASSISTS:
Player                          G         A
Claire Oates                 10        2
Vanessa Valadez          10        6
Lauren Guerra             7          2
Kelsey Gorney             7          1
Taylor Barg                  4          10
Haley Thompson          3          1
Allie Thornton              2          0
Bari Kesner                  2          2
Hannah Fleet               2          0
Lauren Harrington        1          2
Paige Jacobs               1          0
Robyn Maurer              1          0
Blair Thorpe                 0          4
Avery Ortmann             0          1

2015 SEASON REVIEW: In 2015, the Mustangs finished 5-10-3 overall, and ninth in the American Athletic Conference with a 2-6-1 conference mark. SMU recorded all five victories (5-5-1 record) at Westcott Field, where the Mustangs converted 19 of its 25 goals. While at Westcott, the Mustangs topped opponents in goals (19-15), shot attempts (154-82), goals scored per game (+.37) and shots per game (+6.5). Vanessa Valadez was named to the AAC All-Rookie team after leading the Mustangs in goals (8), points (20), shots (42) and shots on goal (20), while tying Blair Thorpe and Lissi Lonsberry for the most assists (4). Claire Oates earned All-AAC Second Team honors.

SMU ATHLETICS, SOCCER PROGRAMS TO SEE FACE LIFT: SMU recently announced plans to construct a new Indoor Performance Center, an outdoor natural grass football practice field and a new soccer stadium, another sign of the University's commitment to competing at the highest level of intercollegiate athletics. These plans come on the heels of amazing success during SMU's Second Century Campaign, when SMU Athletics secured more than $191 million in gift commitments, and after 18 months of careful planning and design. The new soccer stadium, to be used by SMU's men's and women's soccer teams, will be located on Mockingbird Lane, the site of the current practice fields.

Keep up with all the latest news and information on the Mustangs by following SMU women's soccer on Twitter at @SMUSoccerW, on Facebook at Facebook.com/SMUSoccerw, and on Instagram at Instagram.com/SMUSoccerW. Twitter at @SMUMustangs or Instagram at SMU.Mustangs.

--SMUMustangs.com--