Last weekend, the Saint Louis University women’s soccer team
traveled down to Texas and returned with a pair of wins.
The Billikens posted a pair of 2-0 victories against the
University of Houston and Texas Christian University, respectively.
The wins signified the first sweep of the two Texas schools in
school history.
The SLU defense stood strong, producing two shutouts for their
sixth shutout of the season and third in as many games.
The shutout over Houston was especially noteworthy, as the
Cougars entered their game with the Billikens as the highest
scoring team in Conference USA.
The defense’s strong play helped senior back Kim Sinclair win
the Defensive Player of the Week award for C-USA.
The Billikens dominated play Friday night at Houston,
out-shooting the Cougars 22-9 in a 2-0 win.
After facing a number of shots from Houston in the early going
of the game, the Billikens eventually began to control play and
were rewarded for their efforts in the 23rd minute when senior
Jamie Perry and sophomore Courtney Hulcer assisted on a goal by
freshman Cassi Winchell. The goal was Winchell’s third of the
season.
The Billikens ended the first half with a 1-0 lead, while the
Cougars out-shot SLU 8-7 in the half. Billikens keeper Amanda
Martin made four of her five saves in the first half.
SLU dominated play in the second half, out-shooting Houston 15-1
and adding another insurance goal. Sophomore Dee Guempel scored in
the 52nd minute when freshman Heather Crawford fed the ball to
sophomore Maureen Hughes to the left of the goal, where defender
converged on her.
Hughes was able to find Guempel making a run to the top of the
box, where she sent a shot past Houston keeper Nicole Oliver into
the upper right corner of the net. The goal was Guempel’s third of
the season.
After Guempel’s goal, the Billikens continued to attack the goal
throughout the rest of the game, only to see numerous attempts go
wide of the goal. The Billikens’ constant offensive pressure forced
Oliver to make nine saves in the game for the Cougars as they fell
to 4-7-0 overall and 1-2-0 in C-USA play.
On Sunday, the outcome was the same as Friday, with the
Billikens winning 2-0 over the Texas Christian University Horned
Frogs, but the game was played differently. After the SLU offense
dominated Houston, out-shooting the Cougars 22-9, Sunday was the
defense’s turn to dominate.
The Billikens kept their shutout streak intact, while Martin
made 6 saves to notch her 6th shutout of the season, tops in
C-USA.
SLU saw a few good goal-scoring opportunities just miss in the
first half. Hulcer just missed twice in the first 30 minutes of the
game, sending one shot just wide of the left post and another which
skimmed the crossbar.
After the numerous close chances, the Billikens broke through in
the 32nd minute when Sinclair headed a punt from TCU keeper Lindsay
White over to Guempel around midfield.
Guempel was able to send a ball through to Hughes, who collected
the ball and moved in on goal, beat a defender and sent the ball in
the left side of the goal for her fourth goal of the season.
Hughes’ goal gave her the team lead for goals, though she held
sole possession of the lead for a short while.
Perry scored her fourth goal of the season in the second half,
beating two defenders and sent a blast into the upper right corner.
Guempel picked up her second assist of the game on the goal.
In the loss, the Horned Frogs out-shot the Billikens 16-12. They
fell to 4-7-0 overall with a 2-2-0 record in C-USA games.
With their first win over TCU in program history, the Billikens
improved to 7-3-1 and 3-0-0 in C-USA play keeping them in with the
top of the pack.
The Billikens are next in action Friday at 6:30 p.m. at Robert
R. Hermann Stadium against C-USA foe East Carolina University. The
Pirates are 3-6-2 overall with a 1-1-1 record in C-USA play.
The Billikens will also play the Charlotte 49ers on Sunday at 1
p.m. The 49ers are 1-9-1 overall and 1-1-1 C-USA record.
