Nov 9, 2008
HSU Wins Sixth Straight ASC Title
ABILENE, Texas -Hardin-Simmons' women's soccer team won its sixth straight American Southwest Conference Championship with a 2-0 win over rival Texas-Dallas in the ASC final played in front of 400 fans at the HSU Soccer Complex on Sunday afternoon.
It marks the first time in 13 meetings between the two teams that the final margin was decided by more than one goal. Four of the six wins in the Cowgirls' current ASC Championship run have come over Texas-Dallas.
The win pushes the Cowgirls to the NCAA Tournament for the sixth straight year and the pairings will be announced on Monday.
"This just never gets old," said HSU head coach Marcus Wood. "We played great, got a couple of early goals and defended like heck. It has been a pretty successful formula for us. This is never easy."
Hardin-Simmons took the wind in the first half and made the Comets pay with two early goals. Morgan Loyd scored off a flick from Amy Kuykendall in the 10th minute to put the Cowgirls on the board. It was the 15th goal of the season for Loyd.
Just over three minutes later Kuykendall again took possession in the middle of the box and this time passed it to her right side to a streaking Allison Ray who hammered it past Andrea Jones at the 12:22 mark of the first half.
The game was played in a 20-25 mph wind all day and the run of play was definitely the direction of the wind. HSU outshout UTD 15-3 in the first half and in the second half UTD outshot the Cowgirls 12-1. HSU had all five of its corner kicks in the first half and UTD had all seven of its corners in the second half.
Christi Carr pitched another shutout in goal for the Cowgirls with six saves. Andrea Jones had seven saves for UTD. HSU did not allow a goal against an ASC opponent this season.
HSU moved to 15-3-3 on the year and UTD fell to 14-4-3. The Comets will have to await word from the NCAA to see if they will receive an at-large selection.
