With just three matches left, SMU remains in the hunt for a spot in the AAC Tournament. After picking up three points at Temple, SMU heads into the weekend three points shy of the sixth and final spot.

Following Sunday's fixture, Chris Petrucelli's hosts No. 21 Cincinnati. The match will kickoff at 1 p.m. CT. Following the match, SMU will honor its three seasons.

QUICK HITS:
> Vanessa Valadez leads the Mustangs with five goals, three game-winners
> Katia Novi Scored her first career goal at Temple
> Hannah Allred scored her first two career goals at Memphis
> Allie Thornton leads the team with 53 shots and 19 shots on goal
> Haley Thompson leads the team with six 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: On the heels of a 2-0 win at Temple on Sunday, the Mustangs hold a 6-6-3 record and a 1-4-1 mark in The American. Against Temple, Allie Thornton and Katia Novi each finished a pair of strikes. It was the first career goal for Novi. 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 (W, 2-0 at TEMPLE): PHILADELPHIA (SMU) – The SMU women's soccer team picked up its first American Athletic Conference win, 2-0, at Temple Sunday afternoon. Following a scoreless first half that featured nine SMU shots, Allie Thornton broke the tie and scored the eventual game-winner in the 47th minute. After receiving a ball from Mary Meehan, Blair Thorpe served a curling cross into the box from the near end line. A Temple defender managed to chest the ball up and right to Thornton, who buried it in the upper, far corner of the net. Off the bench, freshman Katia Novi recorded her first career goal in the 76th to give SMU a 2-0 advantage. Senior Claire Oates served a ball over the top and to a crashing Novi, who chested it to her feet. From there, Novi roped an uncontested shot past the diving Temple goalkeeper. The freshman logged 25 minutes for the Mustangs, a career-high. SMU outshot the Owls, 19-8, recording six shots on goal. The Ponies opened the match aggressive with nine shots in the opening 45 minutes, before recording 10 shots in the latter half. The SMU defense recorded its fourth clean sheet of the season, allowing Temple to scatter only eight shots, with one on frame. The Mustangs allowed only three shots, and no shots on frame, in the second half.

SCOUTING EAST CAROLINA: The Pirates enter Thursday's match with a 6-7-2 record and a 1-5-0 league mark. East Carolina is tied for last in the American Athletic Conference with three points. ECU has scored 16 goals in 15 matches, an average of 1.07 per match. Courtney Cash leads the East Carolina attack with a team-high six goals and 14 points. She also leads the team in shots (36) and shots on goal (21).

ALL-TIME SERIES: SMU is 6-4-2 all-time in against the East Carolina Pirates. SMU opened the series in 2005 with a 2-0 win in Greenville, N.C. The Mustangs are 3-1 all-time when playing in Dallas. Last season, the two sides met in Raleigh, N.C., due to Hurricane Matthew. SMU won 1-0.

LAST TIME AGAINST THE PIRATES: (W, 1-0) – RALEIGH, N.C. (SMU) – Midfielder Claire Oates scored the game-winning goal in the 83rd minute, to lift the [RV] SMU women's soccer team to a 1-0 victory over East Carolina Wednesday night at the Dail Soccer Complex on the N.C. State campus. With under six minutes to play in regulation, freshman Jessica Cooley sent a cross into the box, where Oates collected the loose ball and fired a shot from five-yards out to break the 0-0 tie. The goal was the 16th goal of her career,  and sixth of the season, tying her single-season high. The SMU offense recorded 17 shots, eight on frame, and forced nine corner kicks. Nine different Mustangs recorded a shot, with Oates and fellow midfielder Hannah Fleet leading the way with four apiece. The match was played in Raleigh due to flood conditions caused in the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew.

UP NEXT: The Mustangs will play No. 21 Cincinnati on Sunday. The match is at 1 p.m. CT. Following the match, the Mustangs will honor its three seniors, Claire Oates, Lauren Harrington and Lauren Guerra.

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 389-164-49 (.704) 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 15 games in 2017, sophomore Allie Thornton leads SMU with 53 shots and 19 shots on goal. The striker has three goals on the year, recording one against Temple, Tulsa and 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 5-2-0 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.