@UNC_BearsSoccer has winning streak snapped by SMU

Thursday, September 13

Greeley, CO

7 PM

University of Northern Colorado

4-4 0-0

SMU

5-1-1 0-0

SMU

Northern Colorado

Photo by: Dean Popejoy

9/13/2018 10:18:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

By: Ryan Ronan

UNC had dominated the flow of play in its last four matches, that changed Thursday night in the finale of the homestand, but wasn't necessarily what SMU did that changed that, it was more UNC mistakes that changed the outcome vs. the Mustangs.

"We made some pretty bad mistakes on our part that put us in a hole," said UNC head coach Tim Barrera.

SMU jumped on top early with a pair of miscues by the Bears in net sandwiched around a Mustangs goal on a penalty kick put the Ponies up 3-0 20 minutes in and they went on to add another in the second half on the way to a 4-0 victory.

"It put us in a position where we were just chasing the game. They started to slow it down, which added to it, but give our players credit for fighting through till the end, it just wasn't our night to get some goals," Barrera said.

It wasn't that UNC didn't have its chances, a missed PK and a crossbar in the first half on top of outshooting the Mustangs 16-8 overall and 9-3 in the final 45 minutes.
SMU came into the match unbeaten in its last four matches with three wins and a tie that was good enough to move them into the No. 2 spot in the United Soccer Regional Rankings meaning this was likely the best team UNC had faced this season.

"We were able to create opportunities against a really good team that likes to control the ball. We were able to solve some issues that they presented us, but every time you play you want to win and you don't want to beat yourself," said Barrera.

SMU will quickly be bumped down to the second best team UNC has played this season following the Bears next match. They travel to the Mustangs home state to face the University of Texas on Sunday afternoon at 4 p.m. UT comes into play ranked No. 14 in the country.