DALLAS, Texas – HCU women's soccer team continues its early season non-conference stretch with a road trip up I-45 to take on SMU on Thursday evening at 5:30 p.m. at Washburne Soccer and Track Stadium before returning to Houston to host UTRGV in the team's home opener in a rescheduled matchup on Saturday at 6:00 p.m. at Sorrels Field.
Saturday's game has been rescheduled from the original 1:00 p.m. start time on Sunday, Aug. 27, due to the expected extreme heat in Houston.
The Huskies (0-2) suffered a pair of defeats last weekend at the hands of Gonzaga and Utah Valley in the Outrigger Soccer Kickoff hosted by Hawaii. Sophomore
Alexa Huerta was the team's lone goal-scorer in the first two games, finding the net on Saturday vs. Utah Valley.
SMU (0-1) will be playing its home opener after dropping its season opener last Thursday in Fort Worth to No. 9 TCU, 1-0. The Mustangs, who fell in the American Athletic Conference championship game last season, were picked to finish second in the AAC West and received a first-place vote. Senior goalkeeper Samantha Estrada, senior midfielder Wayny Balata and sophomore defender Peyton Annen were named AAC Players to Watch for the 2023 season.
The Vaqueros (1-1) split a pair of home matches vs. Southland Conference opponents to open the season, first falling to Southeastern, 2-0, before downing Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 2-1. UTRGV got the game-winner from Rosie Train while Linnea Eld was credited with a pair of assists. The Vaqueros were predicted to finish 10
th in the WAC preseason poll.
HCU is 0-5 all-time vs. the Mustangs with the last meeting coming during the 2018 season. SMU won that match by a 2-1 final. The Huskies and Vaqueros have played just twice before, with both meetings ending in draws. The most recent meeting came in Edinburg, Texas and saw the two teams finish the game even at 0-0 after two overtime periods.
The Huskies remain at home for two more games after this weekend, first facing Sam Houston on Thursday, Aug. 31 before facing Texas State on Sunday, Sept. 3.
