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DALLAS (SMU) – Junior striker Allie Thornton buried two goals in the season's first 17 minutes as SMU topped the DePaul Blue Demons, 2-1, Thursday night at Westcott Field.
"I thought we did pretty well," SMU head coach Chris Petrucelli said. "We were able to create a number of chances and just missed on a couple. A lot of young players played tonight, and there were a lot of good performances. We should feel good about it."
The Mustangs didn't have to wait long to get their first goal of the season. Celiana Torres and Blair Thorpe found Thornton in the box in the 10th minute, where Thornton was able to fire one past the keeper for an early 1-0 advantage. Just seven minutes later, a penalty kick was awarded to the Mustangs after a Blue Demon foul in the box. Thornton's number was called and she subsequently beat the keeper again for the two-goal cushion.
The SMU defense kept the Blue Demons off the board for the game's first 86 minutes. The combination in goal of Catie Brown in the first half and Samantha Estrada in the second was able to take care of the majority of the DePaul threat throughout the night.The lone Blue Demon tally came in the 87th minute. A melee in the goal area saw the ball being pinballed around before being finished by Madeline Frick with three minutes. The goal brought an end to an SMU streak of over six hours (364 minutes) without allowing a goal at Westcott Field, a streak that dates back to a 2017 match against UCF. SMU held tight for the final minutes to clinch their third-consecutive season-opening victory.
Up next, SMU travels to the West Coast for a tilt with the Long Beach State 49ers. The game will be available to watch on LongBeachState.com.
