The Colorado College women's soccer team bounced back and broke new ground on Sunday.
Shaking off a lackluster performance in a scoreless tie with Rice University two days earlier, CC gave its fans and coaching staff something to smile about again with a 2-0 Conference USA triumph over the University of Houston at chilly and occasionally snowy Stewart Field.
With their fourth consecutive shutout, the Tigers improved to 11-5-2 overall and 7-2-1 in C-USA. The seven league victories represents their most since becoming an affiliate member of the conference in 2006, lifted them into third place in the standings and assured them of finishing no lower than fourth with one match left to play.
Junior midfielder
Meredith Smith scored in the 13th minute and freshman forward
Brittney Lyman in the 78th to account for the day's offensive production, while sophomore goalkeeper
Caitlin Hulyo made four saves to backstop the team's 10th whitewashing of the season.
“We played well today,” head coach
Geoff Bennett said. “I'm very pleased with the effort, which was much improved over Friday's. It's nice to see the kids bounce back from a performance that nobody was very pleased with. Now we need to stay focused and keep a positive attitude for our big game against UTEP this Friday.”
The two rivals meet in their regular-season finale at Washburn Field in a 7 p.m. contest on Oct. 30.
Colorado College leads the fourth-place Miners, who lost 1-0 to Rice on Sunday, by one point and trails second-place University of Memphis by two in the C-USA standings. The top two teams receive a bye for the opening round of the conference tournament scheduled to start on Nov. 4.
Smith provided all the cushion Hulyo would need when her perfectly-placed chip shot into the wind from about 22 yards out floated over the head of Houston keeper Lauren Frazier and just under the cross bar at the 12:25 mark. Lyman scored at 77:13, pouncing on a loose ball in the box after
Lauren Talbot headed
Beth Wright's corner kick toward the net.
Frazier finished with eight saves for the Cougars, who dropped to 4-11-2 overall and 2-6-2 in C-USA.
