Women's Soccer - SMU vs. Oklahoma

[DanFreibergerForHeisman]

Clarke hobbles off injured - doesn't look too bad (hopefully).

15 minutes left.

[DanFreibergerForHeisman]

Extremely physical second half - both teams really starting to take it to each other. Great to see SMU standing up to OU!

[DanFreibergerForHeisman]

10 minutes left. Still 1-0 SMU.

[DanFreibergerForHeisman]

Courtney Smith picks up a yellow. Probably deserved.

[DanFreibergerForHeisman]

Clarke is back in!

[DanFreibergerForHeisman]

Webb makes a huge save on a OU breakaway - but it's unnecessary as the play was whistled offside.

[DanFreibergerForHeisman]

Scovill misses a great chance just wide after an OU defensive breakdown.

Less than five minutes remaining.

[DanFreibergerForHeisman]

FULL TIME! SMU 1, OU 0!

[HeyHey]

Thanks for the live updates!

[giacfsp]

Just because Clarke is 5'3" doesn't means other teams have free license to just throw her down. This is getting old.

Erwin needs to recruit a bodyguard or two. I'm not saying a hockey goon, but someone with some size and strength, and more importantly, with a mean streak. Stephen F. Austin tried a lot of rough stuff, too (although I think that was partly because they were out of shape and couldn't stop), and until someone puts a stop to it, other teams will, too.

Any of you old-school SMU soccer fans might remember Cody Schroeder, the standout defender who also kicked for the football team for a year. He was big (by soccer standards), but not enormous ... but if you took any liberties with some of the other SMU players, he had a way of making sure you didn't do it too often. He wasn't a goon, by any means, but if it got rough, he was a hell of a policeman. When players started jawing at each other and shoving (or even punching), you could bet he was in the middle somewhere. He was more than willing to plant someone, to make a point to the other team, and it was very effective.

[DanFreibergerForHeisman]

Fantastic effort tonight. Both teams were extremely solid and didn't really yield that many good opportunities. OU made the crucial mistake giving SMU a free kick from 19 yards and SMU made it count.

Another clean sheet for Courtney Webb and the SMU defense. Quite an accomplishment on the road against a regionally ranked opponent.

It's hard to complain about much tonight. Certainly some good offensive chances were missed, but credit has to go to OU who was very solid as well. SMU really held firm when the physical play started picking up in the second half.

Final stats:

Shots: SMU 9, OU 8
Shots on goal: SMU 2, OU 2
Corners: SMU 9, OU 3 !!!!!!
Yellow cards: SMU 2, OU 2

[giacfsp]

That corner kicks stat is often pretty telling. Did we really have the ball in their end 75 percent of the time?

[DanFreibergerForHeisman]

Just because Clarke is 5'3" doesn't means other teams have free license to just throw her down. This is getting old.

Erwin needs to recruit a bodyguard or two. I'm not saying a hockey goon, but someone with some size and strength, and more importantly, with a mean streak. Stephen F. Austin tried a lot of rough stuff, too (although I think that was partly because they were out of shape and couldn't stop), and until someone puts a stop to it, other teams will, too.

Any of you old-school SMU soccer fans might remember Cody Schroeder, the standout defender who also kicked for the football team for a year. He was big (by soccer standards), but not enormous ... but if you took any liberties with some of the other SMU players, he had a way of making sure you didn't do it too often. He wasn't a goon, by any means, but if it got rough, he was a hell of a policeman. When players started jawing at each other and shoving (or even punching), you could bet he was in the middle somewhere. He was more than willing to plant someone, to make a point to the other team, and it was very effective.

Excellent point.

I just love the way she plays. She keeps getting hammered and gets right back up and gets right back in the thick of things. However, only four games into her career she definitely needs to learn pick her battles or she is going to end up missing time here and there.

OU was definitely going after her specifically tonight - no doubt. I'm sure there is enough tape on her now that everybody is going to start doing it as well. SMU needs to be prepared to do whatever is necessary to keep other teams from taking liberties on Clarke because her dynamic play is crucial to this team.

[giacfsp]

SMU puts one in the net from a corner but the linesman calls offside - would have to see that one again!

I thought you couldn't be offside on a corner kick, because the ball is being played from the offensive goal line, so by the time it's kicked, it's impossible to be in an offside position.

Am I wrong about that? Can one of you soccer experts shed a little insight?

[DanFreibergerForHeisman]

That corner kicks stat is often pretty telling. Did we really have the ball in their end 75 percent of the time?

Realistically, I would guess it was about 60-40. We had that flurry of five straight corners at the end of the first that kind of skewed the stats. We definitely had the run of play more than OU did tonight though.