SMU Takes On Temple Sunday Afternoon

Sunday, October 15

Philadelphia, Penn.

12 p.m.

SMU

Temple

SMU Takes On Temple Sunday Afternoon

Oct 14 | Women's Soccer

Match Slated for 1 p.m. ET/12 CT; Can be seen on Owls TV

SMU (5-6-3, 0-4-1 AAC, 1 pt) at Temple (6-6-2, 2-2-1 AAC, 7 pts)
Live Stream (Owls TV) | Live Stats
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The SMU women's soccer team wraps up its two-match road swing Sunday afternoon with a contest at Temple at 1 p.m. ET/12 CT. The tilt is the final road game of the regular season.

Following Sunday's installment, Chris Petrucelli's club returns home for the final three matches of the season. The Mustangs will host East Carolina, before hosting Cincinnati and Houston to close out the season. All home games are free of charge, and or can be followed on SMUMustangs.com via PonyUp TV or live stats.

QUICK HITS:
> Vanessa Valadez leads the Mustangs with five goals, three game-winners
> Hannah Allred scored her first two career goals at Memphis
> Allie Thornton leads the team with 47 shots and 17 shots on goal
> Haley Thompson leads the team with five assists
> SMU recorded 43 shots against NMSU, the most since Northwestern a year ago
> SMU notched its 400th program history with a 1-0 win against TCU
> Catie Brown named AAC Goalkeeper of the Week (Aug. 28)
> Isabelle Nashmi recorded her first career goal and first career assist at Washington
> Win vs No. 17 Arkansas marks the second consecutive year beating a top-25 opponent (Sept. 29, 2016, 1-0 at No. 15 USF; Sept. 18, 2017, 1-0 vs. No. 17 Arkansas)
> First time beating a top-25 team on opening day in program history
> First home win vs. a top-25 team since Sept. 23, 2011 (1-0 vs. No. 19 UCF)
> 2016 final marks: 13-7-2, 6-2-1 AAC
> 2016 American Athletic Conference Tournament Runner-up; NCAA First Round
> 2016 was SMU's first NCAA tournament since 2006
> SMU finished the 2016 season in the top 25 in six NCAA statistical categories

ABOUT SMU: Following a 2-1 loss at Connecticut Thursday, the Mustangs hold a 5-6-3 record and a 0-4-1 mark in The American. At Connecticut, Katharine Herron scored SMU's lone goal, a header off a Haley Thompson corner kick. Against USF, Hannah Allred and Herron both posted strikes against the Bulls. Against New Mexico State, Blair Thorpe and Lauren Harrington both scored to propel SMU to the win. The Mustangs managed 43 shots, and held New Mexico State to just one, in the victory. Vanessa Valadez leads the Mustangs with five goals, while Claire Oates has tallied three goals on the 2017 campaign. Under the direction of sixth-year head coach Chris Petrucelli, SMU returns 17 student-athletes, including nine starters from its 2016 squad. SMU finished 2016 with a 13-7-2 record (6-2-1 AAC), en route to an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2006. The Mustangs finished third in the regular season, before finishing runner-up in the AAC Conference Tournament.

LAST TIME OUT (L, 2-1 at UConn): STORRS, Conn. (SMU) – The SMU women's soccer team fell at Connecticut, 2-1, Thursday night at Joseph J. Morrone Stadium. Connecticut would take a 1-0 lead into halftime after Yamilee Eveillard managed to head home a cross in the 7th minute of play. In the 56th, defender Katharine Herron found the SMU equalizer. Off a Haley Thompson corner kick, Herron was able to beat the Husky backline and net a header. The Huskies found the eventual game-winner in the 88th, as Eveillard managed to squeak by the SMU backline and finish from inside of the 18-yard box.

SCOUTING TEMPLE: The Owls enter Sunday's match with a 6-6-2 record and a 2-2-1 league mark. Temple is currently in sixth place in the American Athletic Conference with seven points. Temple has scored 22 goals in 14 matches, an average of 1.57 per match. Gabriella McKeown leads the Temple attack with a team-high five goals.

ALL-TIME SERIES: SMU is 5-1-0 all-time against Temple. SMU won the first four meetings, before falling 3-2 in Philadelphia. Last season, SMU topped the Owls 2-1 in Dallas.

LAST TIME AGAINST THE OWLS: (W, 2-1) - DALLAS (SMU) – Midfielder Claire Oates scored the game-winning goal in the 64th minute, to lead the [RV] SMU women's soccer team to a 2-1 win over Temple at Westcott Field. With a 1-0 lead, Haley Thompson curled a corner kick into the box, where Oates collected a rebound off a temple defender and netted her fifth goal of the season and the 15 goals in her career. Thompson, a sophomore defender, now has five assists this season and six in her career. In the 47th minute, freshman forward Allie Thorntonfired a shot into the upper, near corner from the six-yard line to give SMU a 1-0 advantage. Fellow freshman Jessica Cooley set up the goal by beating a defender outside of the 18-yard box, and sending a cross to Thornton. Thornton now has 10 goals this season, and is the first player to record at least 10 goals in a season since Olivia O'Rear scored 13 in 2006. Cooley now has six assists. The SMU offense over powered the Owls' back line, taking 21 shots, with 11 on frame. Ten Mustangs recorded a shot, with Oates leading the team with five shots, three on goal. Forwards Blair Thorpe and Vanessa Valadez each posted three shots, with two on goal. Trailing, 2-0, Temple scored its only goal in the 64th minute.

UP NEXT: The Mustangs open a three-game homestand to round off the regular season. SMU will host East Carolina on Thursday. The game is slated for 7 p.m. CT.

COACHING CORNER: Two-time National Coach of the Year and 1995 NCAA Championship Coach Chris Petrucelli is in his sixth season (2017) 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 his 28th season as a head coach, Petrucelli has compiled a 388-164-49 (.686) record.

KEEP YOUR HEAD ABOUT YA: SMU has five header goals this season, three by senior midfielder Claire Oates and two by defender Katharine Herron.

THOR(NTON)'S HAMMER: Through 14 games in 2017, sophomore Allie Thornton leads SMU with 49 shots and 18 shots on goal. The striker has two goals on the year, recording one at Tulsa and one against Sam Houston State. Against New Mexico State, Thornton registered a season-high nine shots. Against No. 16 Oklahoma, she registered eight shots, equaling Oklahoma's team shots total, with three on frame. In 2016, she finished the season tied with a team-high 10 goals and was second on the team with 23 points. Thornton was the first player since Olivia O'Rear (13) in 2006 to score at least 10 goals in a single-season, and the first since Kimber Bailey (2004, 11) to score 10 or more goals in her freshman year. The 10 goals ranks tied for eight on the SMU All-time goals by a freshman list.

SHARING THE WEALTH: SMU tallied 45 assist in 2016, eclipsing the 2015 total of 21. Jessica Cooley, Haley Thompson and Vanessa Valadez each tallied a team-high eight assists. SMU finished 17th nationally in assists and 24th in assists per game (2.05).

PUT IT ON THE BOARD: The SMU women's soccer team is 4-2-0 when scoring first. In 2016, the Mustangs were 9-0-0 when scoring first.

MILESTONE 400!: Redshirt junior Vanessa Valadez netted the eventual game-winner in the 27th minute against TCU to propel SMU to a 1-0 win for the 400th program victory. Since the beginning of the program in 1986, the program record is 400-205-47 (.650). The Mustangs have been coached by six different coaches over that span.

2017 AAC HONORS:
Catie Brown – Goalkeeper of the Week (Aug. 28)
Isabelle Nashmi – Weekly Honor Roll (Aug. 28)
Vanessa Valadez – Weekly Honor Roll (Sept. 5)

2017 AAC PRESEASON HONORS: The Mustangs were picked to finish second in the American Athletic Conference, receiving three of 10 first place votes by the league's coaches. SMU returns nine of 11 starters from 2016, including three members of the preseason all-conference team: Claire Oates, Vanessa Valadez and Allie Thornton. The trio finished top three in scoring in 2016, with Oates and Thornton leading the way with 10 goals apiece, while Valadez netted nine. Thornton and Valadez were named to the 2016 AAC all-conference first team, while Oates garnered second team honors. Thornton was also named to The American all-rookie team.

2016 AAC HONORS: SMU head coach Chris Petrucelli was name the American Athletic Conference Co-Coach of the Year, and five student-athletes were named to AAC All-Conference teams. Following the AAC Championship, four members were named to the AAC All-Tournament Team
First Team: Allie Thornton & Vanessa Valadez
Second Team: Taylor Barg & Claire Oates
Rookie Team: Allie Thornton & Jessica Cooley
All-Tournament: Catie Brown, Claire Oates, Allie Thornton, Vanessa Valadez

WESTCOTT FIELD: SMU clinched a winning season at Westcott Field in 2016 for the second consecutive season. Since opening in 1994, SMU holds a .711 winning percentage (158-58-21) at Westcott Field. In 23 seasons at Westcott, the Mustangs have finished .500 or better in 21 seasons, with three perfect seasons.

FREE SOCCER!: Adding to its menu of free, family-friendly events, SMU Athletics will now offer free admission to all Mustang soccer matches beginning this fall. The soccer programs are among 11 SMU sports that offer free admission. Others include volleyball, men's and women's tennis, men's and women's swimming and diving, men's and women's golf, rowing and equestrian.

NCAA RECOGNITION AWARD: SMU women's soccer was one of two SMU athletic programs to earn Public Recognition Awards for their latest multi-year NCAA Division I Academic Progress Rates (APR). This is the second time the women's soccer team has achieved the honor (2013-14, 2015-16). The APR is an annual scorecard of academic achievement calculated for all Division I sports teams and provides a real-time look at a team's academic success each semester by tracking the academic progress of each student-athlete on scholarship. The APR accounts for eligibility, retention and graduation, and provides a measure of each team's academic performance.

SMU SOCCER PROGRAMS EARN 2016-17 TEAM ACADEMIC AWARDS: Both SMU soccer programs earned the United Soccer Coaches' (formerly the NSCAA) Team Academic Award on Thursday. The teams were recognized for their exemplary performance in the classroom during the 2016-17 academic year. SMU was one of 202 collegiate programs to have both their men and women's teams earn the award. The SMU women's team, which posted a 3.50 team grade-point average for the 2016-17 academic year, has earned the honor for the sixth consecutive season. The SMU men's soccer team earned the academic award for its second consecutive season following a 3.40 GPA. A total of 824 soccer teams (286 men, 538 women) earned the honor. To qualify for the award, the team must have a minimum grade-point average of 3.0 or higher for the entire academic year. The team GPA is determined by adding every player's GPA, then dividing by the number of players.