Indiana University
SMU
IUWS Continues Road Swing with Visit to Texas
9/6/2017 4:52:00 PM | Women's Soccer
Both games will be streamed online by the opponents for a small fee.
SCOUTING SMU
The No.23-ranked Mustangs, who are Indiana's second ranked opponent of 2017, are 3-0-2 on the year and are coming off a 4-1 victory against Sam Houston State on Thursday. SMU has held its opponents to just three total goals this year with Catie Brown earning a 0.55 goals against average and a pair of shutouts. On the offensive side, Vanessa Valadez is leading the way with three goals. The redshirt junior scored twice in the team's win against Sam Houston State to earn a spot on the American Athletic Conference's weekly honor roll. Claire Oates is second on the Mustangs with five points.
SMU leads the all-time series with Indiana, 2-0. The teams met last season in Bloomington in a game that ended in a 2-1 Mustang victory. Indiana went up in the 10th minute before SMU scored twice, including a goal from Oates. SMU returned to the NCAA Tournament last season for the first time since 2006 and finished No. 36 in the final RPI of the 2016 season.
MATCHING UP WITH THE MEAN GREEN
North Texas played just one game last week after Hurricane Harvey forced its matchup with Texas A&M-Corpus Christi to be cancelled. The Mean Green defeated Houston Baptist on Sunday, 5-0, behind a hattrick from freshman Berklee Peters. Taylor Torres also has three goals on the year for the Mean Green. Tori Phillips and Natalie Newell lead the way in assists with three apiece. In the net, Miranda Schoening has 22 saves on the year with a 0.64 goal against average. Schoening and North Texas have allowed just three goals this season. The Mean Green will host Weber State Friday evening before facing IU.
Sunday's game will be the first ever meeting between IU and North Texas. A season ago, North Texas won the regular season Conference USA title after posting a 15-5-1 mark, including 9-1-0 in conference. The Mean Green has never had a losing season in its 22-year history.
LAST TIME OUT
The Hoosiers traveled to Nashville, Tenn. last weekend for the Music City Invitational. IU defeated tournament host Vanderbilt, 1-0, on Friday before falling to Memphis on Sunday, 2-0.
HOOSIER NOTABLES
• Sophomore Chandra Davidson scored the gamewinner for Indiana Friday against Vanderbilt as she has scored three total goals in the last three games. The Ontario native scored twice at Western Michigan on Aug. 27. Davidson also added an assist at WMU to pace the team with seven points.
• Junior Maya Piper has also found the back of the net three times this year, including twice at Western Michigan. It's a new career high for the Midland, Mich. native, who entered the year with three career scores.
• Seven different Hoosiers have recorded an assist this season.
• Indiana has netted seven of its eight goals in the second half this year, out-scoring its opponents in the final 45 minutes, 7-2.
• Freshman Bethany Kopel has now recorded two shutouts this season. The Novi, Mich. native has 25 saves, good for third in the Big Ten, with a 1.00 goals against average.
• A number of Hoosiers earned career firsts during Indiana's Aug. 27 victory at Western Michigan:
-First multi-goal games for Piper and Davidson.
-First career assists for freshman Hanna Németh, redshirt freshman Kyndal McKinney and redshirt junior Annelie Leitner.
-The four second-half goals were the most in a single half for Indiana since Sept. 7, 2012 against Xavier.
-The 25 shots from Indiana was the most since Sept. 18, 2013 against Xavier. IU had 16 shots on frame, the most for the Hoosiers in a single game since at least 2006.
WHAT'S AHEAD IN 2017?
The 2017 schedule features 10 total games against participants in the 2016 NCAA Tournament and 11 opponents who finished last season ranked in the top 60 of the RPI.
The non-conference portion of the slate includes eight games, with three opponents advancing to the tournament last year and four finishing in the RPI Top 60.
Big Ten play for Indiana includes 2016 Big Ten Co-Champions Northwestern and Minnesota, as well as seven meetings with 2016 NCAA Tournament teams.
In this week's United Soccer Coaches Preseason Poll, four of Indiana's 2017 opponents are ranked - No. 4 Clemson, No. 14 Rutgers, No. 22 Nebraska and No. 23 SMU. In addition, another five opponents received votes.
