SMU
Cincinnati
Mustangs Begin Road Trip with Thursday Clash Against Cincinnati
Sep 26 | Women's Soccer
SMU @ Cincinnati | Gettler Stadium
Sep. 27, 2018 – 6 p.m. CT
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Cincinnati, Ohio (SMU) --- The 7-2-1 Mustangs begin a two-game conference road swing as they face off with the Cincinnati Bearcats on Thursday at 6 p.m. CT from Gettler Stadium.
QUICK FACTS
-Thursday will mark the 10th all-time meeting between the programs with the Mustangs holding a 4-3-2 edge in the career series. Since joining the American Athletic Conference, the Mustangs have taken three of the six meetings. Last season, SMU knocked off Cincinnati twice, first, besting the No. 21 Bearcats at Westcott Field, 1-0, followed by another 1-0 victory, this time at the conference tournament.
-With a 7-2-1 mark through ten games, the Mustangs are off to their best start to a season since the 2006 campaign when they also started 7-2-1.
-The Mustangs have only trailed for 50 minutes through ten games this season. Comparatively, the squad has spent 491 minutes in front. Altogether, SMU has spent 53 percent of the season in the lead, 41 percent tied and just 6 percent of the campaign trailing (against Long Beach State and Colorado State).
-The Mustangs are outscoring their opponents 12-2 in the first half. The team has scored two or more goals in the first 20 minutes of four of their ten games. Additionally, SMU has scored ten goals in the first quarter (22:30) of games and have conceded once (against UConn). Against FIU, SMU scored twice before the five-minute mark, the quickest to a pair of goals for the Mustang since 2016 against Tulsa.
-Head Coach Chris Petrucelli won his 400th career game on Sunday in the 4-1 win over UConn. In his seventh season at the helm of the Mustangs, Petrucelli has 60 wins while coaching on the Hilltop.  Only eight coaches have reached the 400-win mark in Division 1, including just six other active coaches: Anson Dorance (UNC), Jerry Smith (Santa Clara), G. Guerrieri (Texas A&M), Becky Burleigh (Florida) and Randy Waldrum (Pittsburgh).
-Dating back to 2017, the Mustangs have won eight consecutive matches at Westcott Field, five short of the SMU record. The longest streak in program history happened in the inaugural season (1986) and ended in 1987 season after SMU strung together 13 consecutive wins at home. This season, SMU is 5-0-0 at home and 6-0-1 in the state of Texas.
-Senior Goalkeeper Catie Brown recorded an impressive streak of 355:33 minutes in net without conceding a goal, a streak that dated back to the draw against TCU and ended on a 15th minute goal from UConn. The streak included a PK save by Brown in the road contest against Northern Colorado.  Brown's 0.56 GAA is second  in the conference. Brown was named to The American Honor Roll after the Mustangs' road trip to Colorado.
-A trio of Mustangs are tied for the squad lead with 12 points apiece. Both Allie Thornton and Courtney Sebazco have tallied six goals while Celiana Torres has both four assists and four goals. The two freshman, Sebazco and Torres, have 10 of the 23 Mustang goals.
-Allie Thornton joined teammate Vanessa Valadez as active Mustangs with 20-career goals when she scored in the first half against UConn.
-For the second time this season, Courtney Sebazco was named Rookie of the Week by the American Athletic Conference. Sebazco is just the third AAC player to be honored more than once with Rookie of the Week. The Fort Worth, Texas native had her first award-winning weekend against Rice and TCU, scoring a pair of goals. Two weeks later, Sebazco registered a multi-goal game against FIU, including one coming on a penalty kick. The freshman leads the Mustangs in goals and shots on goals. Sebazco added her fifth goal against Northern Colorado and a sixth against UConn.
-With the win against UConn on Sep. 23, SMU clinched a winning season at Westcott Field for the fourth consecutive season. In 24 seasons at Westcott, the Mustangs have finished .500 or better in 23 seasons, with three perfect seasons.
-The Mustangs were picked to finish fifth in the American Athletic Conference with junior Allie Thornton being named preseason All-Conference by the league's coaches.
ABOUT THE BEARCATS – Cincinnati is coming off a split in the opening weekend of American Athletic Conference play. In their last time out, the Bearcats erased a halftime deficit at Tulsa and won 2-1. Jill Vetere leads the team in points with three goals and three assists. In net, UC has split time between Madison Less and Claudia Eustaquio.
UP NEXT - The Mustangs wrap up their road trip with a matchup against East Carolina from Greenville, N.C. on Sunday. Next week, the Mustangs will welcome Tulsa and Memphis for the final home series of the regular season.
