Women's Soccer - SMU vs. Memphis

[DanFreibergerForHeisman]

The Mustangs head to Memphis for a road match Friday night against the undefeated Tigers (12-0-0) with a 7pm start.

It is impossible to understate the importance of this one for SMU. The postseason aspirations of the team are literally hanging by a thread. A win - or at least a draw - against Memphis is essential for SMU to have any realistic hope of making the NCAA tournament this year.

A quick look at the top Conference USA RPI rankings released today:

8 - Memphis
16 - UCF
24 - Rice
80 - SMU
82 - Tulsa
94 - ECU

Needless to say, this match will be the final chance for SMU to boost our RPI up to where we can get serious NCAA consideration since we have already played UCF and Rice.

After the UCF draw with Colorado College, if Memphis beats UCF and SMU can run the table in C-USA (even with a potential loss to Memphis) SMU will finish second or third - opening up a path to the conference championship if Memphis and UCF have to play in the semifinals.

As far as the Memphis match goes, it will be interesting to see who makes the trip. The big question marks are Ryanne Lewis who left the Houston game and did not return, and Rikki Clarke who missed both the Rice and Houston matches this past weekend. If neither player is available, SMU will be stretched very thin both for the Memphis game Friday night and the UAB match on Sunday.

Anyway - no excuses. SMU has their chance to make some noise in the C-USA if they want to. This one could certainly play out like the UCLA match where SMU essentially plays for a 0-0 draw.

Obviously, a point against Memphis would be huge no matter how we get it, but this SMU team has certainly shown the ability to step up at some crucial times this season. How about a win?

Go Ponies!

[DanFreibergerForHeisman]

While you really can't find any fault in Memphis being 12-0-0 and 4-0-0 in C-USA, their recent form hasn't exactly been dominant by any stretch of the imagination...

W 2-0 at Vanderbilt
W 2-1 at Houston
W 1-0 at Rice
W 1-0 at Marshall
W 2-0 at East Carolina

Granted, they have played five straight on the road. In their four home matches this season they have scored at least three in all of them.

But, based on their recent action there is reason to believe SMU should have a really good chance at keeping this one close and hopefully being able to steal a point or three on Friday night.

[DanFreibergerForHeisman]

10 minutes until kickoff. Looks like the same formation we used against Rice with a fifth defenseman playing as a sunken midfielder.

Webb; Smith, Cox, Eidson, Hartweck, Larson; Baum, Bartol; Redman, Elliott, Scovill

[DanFreibergerForHeisman]

Underway. SMU in red. Webb in blue!

Elliott with a great chance early - SMU corner.

[DanFreibergerForHeisman]

Mustangs are certainly not sitting back in this one with an early 2-0 advantage in corners.

Still 0-0 5 minutes in.

[DanFreibergerForHeisman]

Mustangs spending a lot of time on the Memphis side of the field.

It actually looks like SMU is in more of a 4-3-3 and sometimes even a 4-2-4. Larson is at right back and Hartweck is playing more of a traditional midfield role.

Webb is also taking goal kicks again which is good to see.

[DanFreibergerForHeisman]

GOAL SMU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Scovill or Elliott just punched one in after a corner from Baum.

[DanFreibergerForHeisman]

They credited the goal to Hartweck. No matter who scored it the Mustangs were awesome fighting for the loose ball after the corner.

1-0 SMU about 28 minutes in.

[DanFreibergerForHeisman]

One other nice note - Lewis is on the bench (but not dressed) so they must be optimistic she will able to return by Sunday or they wouldn't have taken her. It's nice to know her injury is probably not serious. Clarke does not appear to be on the bench which isn't surprising.

[DanFreibergerForHeisman]

Wow - spoke too soon. Lewis was just in warmups. She is now in the game!

[DanFreibergerForHeisman]

Memphis just hit the crossbar! Webb with a nice save on the follow up shot.

[DanFreibergerForHeisman]

So close to number 2. Eidson almost gets her head to a free kick from Smith and the Gaines is just beaten to the ball by a defender about 6 yards out.

[DanFreibergerForHeisman]

WOW!!!!!!!!!

2-0 SMU!!!!!!

Briana Gaines with a sweet soft lifted shot from around 25 yards out beats the keeper!

5 minutes left in the first.

[DanFreibergerForHeisman]

Gaines got the ball near midfield - schooled a couple of defenders and then looked up and saw the keeper off her line and took advantage of the situation. Fantastic!

[DanFreibergerForHeisman]

Memphis hits the post. It looked like an SMU defender deflected the original shot. The follow up shot was wide.