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HOUSTON – HBU remained unbeaten at home after a convincing 5-0 victory over visiting Incarnate Word on Friday evening at Sorrels Field as the Husky women's soccer team kept pace near the top of the league standings.
 
The Huskies (5-4-2, 4-1-1 SLC) entered Friday's match two points behind McNeese, Lamar and Central Arkansas and the win helped keep them two points back of McNeese and Lamar with Central Arkansas losing and falling a point behind HBU.
 
After a quiet first six minutes of the match with both teams getting settled, UIW (2-9-0, 1-5-0 SLC) got a shot from Ana Rodriguez that went into the arms of HBU goalkeeper Alanis Guevara. HBU senior Ellee Hall put HBU on the board just two minutes later after a shot attempt hit the crossbar and caromed into the box where Hall stepped up and easily found the net off the rebound for her seventh goal of the season and made it 1-0.
 
The Cardinals' Sam Batley tested Guevara a couple of time in the first half but UIW was unable to hit paydirt. HBU's Autumn Wildung and Sabriah Spencer had back-to-back opportunities in the 39^th minute but UIW's Sydney Huntsinger stopped Wildung's attempt and Spencer's bounced off the crossbar. The two then teamed up in the 41^st minute for the Huskies' second goal with Spencer getting the assist on Wildung's goal as she drove into the box from the left sideline and beat Huntsinger inside the left post, sending HBU into the half with a 2-0 lead.
 
Incarnate Word put a dangerous shot on goal around the 51:00 mark when Isabella Beletic won a header off a UIW corner and directed it on goal but Guevara made the stop. In the 71^st minute, Spencer broke through for her first goal of the season, taking a pass from Casey Basso and finding herself with space inside the 18 yard box to take aim at the goal and beat Huntsinger to her left.
 
At the 82:27 mark, senior Jennifer Gebhardt lined up for a free kick from roughly 40 yard out from the goal, sending it into the box where Baylii Bieke won the header in front of the left post where Wildung collected the ball and sent it through a defender's legs and past Huntsinger to make it 4-0. Goal number five came from Basso in the 86^th minute as she curled a corner kick into the net for her first goal of the year.
 
Wildung now has three goals on the season while Hall's seven keep her tied for the conference lead. Hall has also now scored the game-winner in four of the Huskies' five wins. Spencer now has 16 career goals after totaling 15 in her first two season. Basso, a senior defender, picked up her first career goal with the corner kick.
 
Guevara earned shutout number four on the year, recording five saves to improve to 4-4-2 between the pipes. The Huskies out-shot the Cardinal 27-11 for the match, holding UIW to just three attempts in the second half.
 
"It was great to get another home win," said head coach Misty Jones. "The big thing for us is, we've been creating tons of chances but haven't been quite as accurate in our finishing. We worked on finishing a lot this week, keeping the ball slow. And we scored some great goals tonight. It's always exciting to work on things in practice and for it to translate in the game. It was good for the back line to keep another clean sheet. Alanis didn't have to handle a ton, but the dangerous chances that she did have to handle I thought she did a good job with. It's big for our back line to stay focused in games like this. They've got a couple of pretty dangerous players and we did a good job of handling them."
 
The win wrapped up a three-game home stretch for HBU and the Huskies will return to the road for the next two, traveling first to Natchitoches, La. to face Northwestern State on Friday, Oct. 13 at 7:00 p.m. before continuing on to Conway, Ark. for a matchup with Central Arkansas on Sunday, Oct. 15.