Sunday, August 27
Seattle, Wash.
2:30 p.m.
SMU
at
Washington
Mustangs Continue Road Trip At Washington Sunday Afternoon
Aug 25 | Women's Soccer
Game Can Be Seen On Pac-12 Washington; Kickoff Set For 2:30 p.m. CT/12:30 PT
| [RV/RV] SMU (1-0-2, 0-0-0 The American) at Washington (2-1-0, 0-0-0 Pac-12) | |
| Date & Kickoff Time | Sun., Aug. 27 at 2:30 p.m. CT/12:30 PT |
| Location | Husky Soccer Stadium - Seattle, Wash. |
| Video | Pac-12 Washington |
| Live Stats | Live Stats |
| Tickets | Washington Ticket Office |
| Game Info | SMU Game Notes Washington Game Notes |
| SMU WSOC | SMU Mustangs | |
| @SMUSoccerW | @SMUMustangs | |
Following a 1-1 draw at Gonzaga Thursday night, the SMU women's soccer team returns to the pitch Sunday afternoon at Washington. The match is slated for 2:30 p.m. CT/12:30 p.m. PT. The game will be televised on Pac-12 Washington, with live stats on SMUMustangs.com
QUICK HITS:
> SMU is receiving votes in the United Soccer Coaches' Poll (62) and by TopDrawer
> SMU is ranked fifth in the Southeast Region Poll
> SMU remains unbeaten through the first three games for the first time since 2001
> Claire Oates scored her 22nd career goal at Gonzaga
> Allie Thornton leads the team with 14 shots, 5 shots on goal
> Isabelle Nashmi and Lauren Guerra both have three SOG
> SMU allowed just 16 combined shots to No. 17 Arkansas, No. 16 Oklahoma
> 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)
> The Mustangs were picked to finish second in the American Athletic Conference
> Thornton, Oates (10 g each) and Valadez (9 g) were named Preseason All-Conference
> 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 consecutive shutouts against a top-25 team, the Mustangs enter Sunday's match with a 1-0-2 record after a 1-1 draw at Gonzaga Thursday night. Claire Oates has scored both of SMU's goals this season, the first the game-winner in the 97th minute against No. 17 Arkansas and the second at Gonzaga (79'). The Mustangs are receiving 62 votes (No. 27 nationally) in the latest United Soccer Coaches' (USC) poll and are ranked No. 5 in the Southeast Region. 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 (D, 1-1 (2OT) at Gonzaga): SPOKANE, Wash. (SMU) – Senior midfielder Claire Oates scored the equalizer in the 79th minute, as the SMU women's soccer team played to a 1-1 tie at Gonzaga Thursday night. The Mustangs remain undefeated and move to 1-0-2 on the young season. Gonzaga (2-0-1) opened scoring in the 39th minute as junior midfielder Maddie Kincaid finished a loose ball from inside the 18 yard box. Forty minutes later, senior Lauren Guerra sent a curling corner kick into the box, where a crashing Oates got above the defense and netted a header for the equalizer. The 6-foot senior now has both SMU's goals this season, both coming off headers. She now has 22 career goals. In the 87th minute, freshman Isabelle Nashmi nearly gave the Mustangs the advantage, when her header off a Haley Thompson corner kick hit the post. The Gonzaga defense was able to extinguish the threat and send the match to overtime. Nine different Mustangs tallied shots, as SMU managed 16 combined shots, six of which were on frame. Sophomore Allie Thornton paced the Mustangs with four shots, with two on frame, while Guerra tallied three shots and two on frame.
SCOUTING WASHINGTON: The Huskies enter Sunday's match with a 2-1-0 record after a 2-1 win at Illinois Thursday. In 2016, Washington finished with a 7-12-1 mark, including a 2-9-0 record in Pac-12 play. Entering 2017, Washington was picked to finish seventh in the Pac-12. The Huskies return 16 letterwinners this season, but are young with eight freshmen and a sophomore transfer. The Huskies will be led by a large senior class which includes two of their top scorers from a season ago in Shannon Simon and Kimberly Keever. During the off-season, the pair completed a week-long training camp with the United States Under-23 Women's National Team. Keever, an All-Pac-12 second team selection, recorded four goals last season while Simon, an honorable mention honoree, scored a team-high seven.
ALL-TIME SERIES AGAINST WASHINGTON: In the head-to-head matchups between SMU and Washington, SMU is 2-1-0 all-time. The Ponies have won the last meetings, including a 2-1 decision in Dallas a season ago. SMU's only loss, 6-2, to the Huskies came at Washington on Sept. 24, 1994 during the UW Classic.
Washington, 2-1 | H: 2-0, A: 0-1, N: 0-0
1994 S24 A@ L, 6-2 @ UW Classic (Seattle, Wash.)
1995 S4 H W, 5-3
2016 S18 H W, 2-1
LAST TIME AGAINST WASHINGTON (W, 2-1 at SMU on Sept. 18, 2016): DALLAS (SMU) – In comeback fashion, the SMU women's soccer team scored two goals late in the second half to top [RV] Washington, 2-1. The Mustangs outshot the Huskies, 9-5, in the second half, and allowed only one shot on goal, while putting four on frame in the closing 45 minutes. Trailing 1-0 in the 66th minute, Vanessa Valadez netted a header to equalize the match at one apiece. Starting with a Blair Thorpe throw-in to Allie Thornton on the far side, Thornton skied a cross into the box, where Valadez got above two defenders and placed the ball in the near, lower corner. Valadez has scored five goals this season, and 14 in her career.Junior Claire Oates scored the eventual match-winning goal and gave SMU a 2-1 advantage in the 79th minute, after drilling in a cross from Valadez. From the near side, Thornton fed the ball into the near corner, where Valadez sent a cross through the goal box. Oates collected and finished to post her fourth goal of the season, and 14th in her career. In the 10th minute, Shannon Simon scored Washington's lone goal. The SMU offense tallied 14 total shots with five on goal. The SMU defense allowed eight total shots with only three on goal.
HEAD COACH CHRIS PETRUCELLI: Two-time National Coach of the Year and 1995 NCAA Championship Coach Chris Petrucelli enters 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 27 years as a head coach, Petrucelli has compiled a 384-158-48 (.695) record.
WINNER, WINNER!: Senior midfielder Claire Oates netted a game-winning header in the 97th minute to propel the SMU women's soccer team to a 1-0 overtime win against No. 17 Arkansas Friday at Westcott Field. The 6-foot senior from Long Beach, Calif., scored 10 goals in 2016, six for game-winners. The six game-winning goals from a season ago ranked her at ninth in the NCAA.
KEEP YOUR HEAD ABOUT YA: Senior midfielder Claire Oates has two header goals in 2017.
1 - 97' vs. No. 17 Arkansas (W, 1-0 OT)
2 - 79' at Gonzaga (D, 0-0)
THOR(NTON)'S HAMMER: Through two games, sophomore Allie Thornton leads SMU with 10 shots and three shots on goal. Against No. 16 Oklahoma, the striking midfielder 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 1-0-0 when scoring first. In 2016, the Mustangs were 9-0-0 when scoring first.
LOOKING AT 400: The 1-0 win against No. 17 Arkansas was the 397th victory in SMU program history. Since the beginning of the program in 1986, the program record is 397-204-47 (.649). The Mustangs have been coached by six different coaches over that span.
BIG WINS: SMU scored six goals against Abilene Christian Sunday marking the 60th 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 60-0-0 record, and have posted a clean sheet 36 times.
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 .717 winning percentage (155-55-20) 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. SMU will host a combined 22 matches at Westcott Field, 12 women's games and 10 men's games. The women's team will open the 2017 campaign at Westcott Field against Arkansas on Friday, Aug. 18, before hosting Oklahoma on Aug. 20. The men's team will play three straight home contests to open the season, starting with UC Davis on Friday, Aug. 25.
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 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. Follow SMU Athletics via Facebook at /SMUMustangs, Twitter at @SMUMustangs or Instagram at SMU.Mustangs.
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/ Women's SoccerFriday, September 11
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Wednesday, September 09
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