DALLAS (SMU) – No. 15 SMU suffered its first loss in its last eight matches Thursday night as Houston defeated the Mustangs with a penalty-kick goal in the 22nd minute.

Overall, Houston (10-2-2, 2-0-1 American Athletic Conference) outshot SMU (7-2-1, 1-1-1 The American) 11-7 and 8-3 in shots on goal.

"First of all, I give them [Houston] a lot of credit. They were a handful. They're athletic, and they run and run. I thought they played pretty well," SMU head coach Chris Petrucelli said of the opposition.

The Cougars scored after Tatum Sutherland committed a foul in the box trying to punch out a floating service. Mia Brascia took the penalty and placed the shot perfectly between the left post and the outstretched hands of Sutherland, who guessed correctly on the direction.

The Mustangs nearly found the equalizer just seven minutes later. Freshman Sammy Nieves got open outside the 18, but her looping shot over the keeper bounded off the crossbar. SMU managed just one shot on goal in the second half, but it was a shot that went wide left that looked destined to send the match to overtime.

Freshman Elisabeth Tse got on the end of a Sebazco cross at the right corner of the 18-yard box. She sent the shot back across the face of the goal, but it sailed just on the wrong side of the left post.

Sutherland, who entered the match as the nation's leader in goals against average and save percentage, kept SMU in the match with four critical saves. The Mustangs also had three team saves to back up their stellar goalkeeper.

"She [Sutherland] was good…She's been good all year, and she made a number of good saves in the game. As I said to the team, we've got to score if we're going to win," Petrucelli stated.

SMU plays at USF Sunday at 1 p.m. ET/12 p.m. CT. The Bulls are 8-2-2, 3-0-1 in The American, and USF is receiving votes in the top-25 poll.