DALLAS (SMU) – The SMU women's soccer program closes out its regular season on Thursday, facing No. 21 Louisville on the road.  

The match will kick off at 6 p.m. CT and will be aired on ACCNX. Fans can also follow along with the action from Louisville via live stats found here.  

The Mustangs will look to close out the regular season on a high note after dropping their last four games. Last time out, SMU fell 5-1 to No. 2 Stanford. Louisville will be SMU's fourth-ranked opponent in a row.

SMU has recorded 237 shots and scored 25 goals this season, which ranks eighth and 10th in the ACC, respectively.  SMU's 237 shots are the most in a single season since 2019 (346).

The Mustangs rank 43rd in the nation in corner kicks per game at 6.12 and have totaled 104, the fourth most in the ACC this season. The 104 corners are the most in a single season since 2019 (111).  

Nyah Rose leads SMU in goals scored with four after recording a brace against Pitt. Rose has now scored 20 goals in her career.  

Thirteen different Mustangs have scored a goal this season, while Rose, Liz Eddy and Nicole Stryker each have a brace this season.  

Sammy Nieves leads the team with six assists and is currently 14th in the ACC in total assists. She has recorded two multi-assist games and is one of four Mustangs to record a multi-assist game this season.

Liz Eddy leads SMU in total shots with 46 and in shots per game at 3.00, which both rank 10^th in the ACC.  Nyah Rose has taken 30 shots with a team high of 16 on goal.  

The Mustangs ended the non-conference portion of their schedule with a record of 6-2-0 and four shutout victories. SMU is 6-3-1 at home this season.

The Mustangs added nine newcomers to their 2025 roster, five freshmen and four transfers. Head coach Nicole Nelson also brought in two new assistant coaches, Daniel O'Hare and Callie McKinney.

SMU enters the game with an RPI ranking of 59. Fourteen of the 17 ACC teams are ranked inside the top 100, and eight are in the top 25. Louisville enters the game ranked No. 12 in the RPI.

A nation-best seven ACC teams are ranked in the latest United Soccer Coaches Poll, including the top three spots: Notre Dame (No. 1), Stanford (No. 2), Florida State (No. 6), Virginia (No. 7), Duke (No. 10), Louisville (No. 21), Clemson (No. 25).  Wake Forest and North Carolina are currently receiving votes.

In the ACC Preseason Coaches Poll, the Mustangs were picked to finish 12th overall. The top-10 teams in the poll were all ranked or received votes in the United Soccer Coaches Preseason Poll.

This season will mark the 40th year of women's soccer on the Hilltop and the fourth under head coach Nicole Nelson. The Mustangs are 10-13-5 on the road under Nelson. 

// THE MATCH UP

• Thursday's match will be the second meeting between SMU and Louisville.  The last time the teams played each other, the Cardinals won 4-2 in Dallas in 2013.
• SMU has already surpassed last season's win total with eight this year and will look to increase that number and keep the team's NCAA Tournament hopes alive.
• SMU is 2-5-2 in ACC play this season and is currently 12th in the conference with eight points.
• Louisville will be SMU's fifth-ranked opponent of the season and the fourth in a row for the Mustangs. The last time SMU defeated a ranked opponent was when the team defeated No. 25 Tennessee 2-1 at home in 2023.
• A win over Louisville would be the highest-ranked win since the team defeated No. 17 Arkansas at home 1-0 in 2017.
• The last time SMU defeated a ranked team on the road was in 2018 when SMU beat No. 24 UCF 1-0. A win over Louisville would also be the highest-ranked road win for the Mustangs since the team beat No. 8 UCF 2-1 on the road in 2012. 

// SCOUTING THE OPPONENT

• Louisville is led by Head Coach Karen Ferguson-Dayes, who is in her 26th season at the helm of the Cardinals and boasts a record of 223-201-53.
• The Cardinals enter the match ranked No. 20 in the nation with a record of 12-3-2, and are fifth in the ACC with a record of 5-2-2.
• Louisville is coming off a 3-0 road victory over NC State. The Cardinals are third in the conference with 48 goals scored, as Amelia Swinarski leads the team with nine.

// LAST TIME OUT

• SMU traveled to the Bay Area to take on No. 2 Stanford. SMU held Stanford to just one goal in the first half.
• The Mustangs rattled off 10 shots in the match and are only the third team this season to record double-digit shots against the Cardinal.
• SMU goalkeeper Aubrey Brown recorded a career-high 11 saves on 27 shots faced (16 on goal). Her 11 saves are the most in a single game by a Mustang since Shannon Moroney had 11 against UConn on October 25, 2015.

// LOCK DOWN DEFENSE

• The Mustangs have allowed one or fewer goals in 48 of 70 games played under Head Coach Nicole Nelson. SMU achieved the feat in 10 of its 17 games this season.
• SMU has recorded six shutouts this season, the most since 2023. SMU has shut out 23 opponents under Nelson.

// WINNING AT WASHBURNE

• SMU holds an impressive 30-12-5 record at home since the 2021 season and is 22-11-4 under Nelson.
• SMU is 6-3-1 at home this year and is outscoring opponents 15-9 inside Washburne. Four of the team's home victories have been shutouts.  SMU started the season 5-0-0 at home, the first time since 2018 that the team achieved the feat.
• Seventeen of SMU's home wins in that stretch have been shutouts.
• In the team's first three home games, SMU rattled off 27 shots in each.

// RECORD BOOK ROSE

• Nyah Rose has been SMU's top goal scorer over the last couple of seasons and was ranked 48^th in TopDrawerSoccer's top-100 players list at the start of the season.
• This season, she leads the team in goals scored with four.
• Rose recorded her first brace of the season against Pitt, leading the team to a 4-0 victory. She has now recorded four multi-goal games and has totaled 20 goals in her SMU career.
• Rose scored her first goal of the season and the game-winning goal against UNT.
• Rose found the back of the net once again in the team's 3-0 victory over HCU.
• Rose is coming off another standout season for the Mustangs. Rose was a 2024 Hermann Trophy Watch List honoree and was named Third Team All-ACC for her play last season.
• Rose was second on the team with five goals in only 11 games played last season. Rose scored the team's only goal in a 1-1 draw versus the 2024 ACC tournament champions, Florida State.  Three of her five goals occurred during ACC play.
• As a freshman, she was named First-Team All-South Region, All-AAC First Team, Co-Rookie of the Year and was named to the AAC All-Rookie Team and AAC Championship All-Tournament Team. She led AAC in goals scored with 11. 

// A PREMIERE PLAYMAKER

• Sammy Nieves has been SMU's player maker this season, leading the team with six assists. Nieves also leads the team in 12 points after scoring her second goal of the season against Clemson.
• Nieves had three assists against North Texas and is the first Mustang to record three assists in a game since Hannah Fleet had three against Abilene Christian on Sept. 11, 2016.
• She recorded her second multi-assist game of the season with two against HCU.
• The senior has recorded 16 assists in her career.  

// LEADING BY EXAMPLE

• Captain Lydia Ungashick has been leading by example all season long, as she is second on the team in goals scored with three. She also has one assist and is fourth on the team in total points (7)
• She scored SMU's first ACC goal of the year against Syracuse.

// FRESHMAN STANDOUT

• Freshman Lindsay Nicholson has scored two goals this season and is third on the team in total shots with 28.
• In TopDrawerSoccer Midseason Top-100 Freshmen rankings, Nicholson was ranked as the 70^th best freshman in the nation.
• Against Cal, she recorded her first two assists of her career, her first multi-assist game, and followed that performance up with another assist against Clemson.
• She scored in back-to-back games against NSU and UNT, becoming the first freshman to achieve this feat since Nyah Rose did so multiple times in 2023. 

// HORSEPOWER

• Sydney Japic, Claire Jones, Hali Hartman and Maura Yumul have started in all 17 matches this season, while nine total Mustangs have appeared in every game.
• Hartman and Japic lead SMU in minutes played, with over 1,500 apiece.
• Hartman, who led SMU in minutes last season with 1,438, played the full 90 in 29 of the last 30 games dating back to last season and leads the team with 1,528 minutes played.
• Japic, who transferred to SMU this season, is second on the team in minutes played with 1,504, and has played the full 90 in all but four games.
• Twenty-four different Mustangs have made an appearance in the game this season.