DALLAS - The SMU Mustangs scored all six of their goals against Abilene Christian by the 52nd minute led by Allie Thornton's hat trick, and improved to 4-2 on the season following their 6-1 win over the Wildcats at Sunday night at Wescott Field.
Thornton scored the match's first goal 20 seconds into the fifth minute, finishing a cross from Jessica Cooley, and netted her second and third goals a mere 24 seconds apart near the start of the 52nd minute. Thornton was twice assisted by both Cooley and Hannah Fleet, who was credited with three assists.
SMU made it a 2-0 score in the 29th minute with Fleet splitting two defenders before laying off to Vanessa Valadez, and 21 seconds afterward, the Mustangs finished one of its eight corner kicks as Robyn Maurer was assisted by Paige Jacobs and Haley Thompson.
SMU, which finished the first half with 14 shots (eight on goal), went ahead 4-0 2:40 into the second half when Valadez headed in Thompson's corner inside the near post.
The Mustangs completed the match with a 22-7 shot advantage and placed 13 on frame, with close to half of those finding the back of the net. Senior
Kelsey Dombrowski started the contest and made five saves in 56:12, and her classmate
Sydney Newton made two stops in the final 33:48.
By comparison, ACU (1-6-1) placed just one of its seven shots on goal and that was sophomore
Sophie Standifer's unassisted strike in the 62nd minute that broke SMU's shutout streak of Southland opposition. Earlier this season, the Mustangs trampled Northwestern State, 8-0, followed by a 9-0 stampede of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
All three of ACU's first-half shots came between the 23rd and 27th minutes, and two of those were blocked. The Wildcats fired three additional shots after the Standifer goal, but attempts by
Samantha Vestal and
Chelsea Reedy were blocked, while Standifer missed high. Reedy's blocked shot came in between a pair of Wildcat corner kicks in the 89th minute.
ACU recorded six corner kicks to eight for the Mustangs.
The Wildcats return to action Saturday night at Corpus Christi to begin their fourth season of Southland Conference play. Kick off is 7 p.m.
