Box Score RICHARDSON, TX (10.14.10) - At least for one day, the UT Dallas women's soccer team took over sole possession of first place in the American Southwest Conference Thursday night after a 2-0 home win over East Texas Baptist.

With their fourth straight shutout, the Comets (now 8-5-1 overall) improved to 6-2-1 in ASC play, good enough for a slight lead in the conference standings over both nationally-ranked Hardin-Simmons and UT-Tyler (which both actually moved back ahead with Friday victories).

Admittedly, the lead will be hard to hold for the Comets, who have just four regular-season games left on their schedule while all the other contenders have as many as six more games to add points to their record. But it did put the Comets on solid footing to stay in one of the league's top six spots and qualify again for the ASC post-season Championship Tournament.

ETBU, one of the teams desperately trying to climb up to one of those spots, dropped to 4-6-1 overall and 4-3-1 in the ASC after the loss.

UTD, which has outscored its opponents 26-1 and has recorded four shutouts in its last five games, opened the scoring in the 34th minute when freshman Eboni Udenze drew a penalty kick on a three-way collision with the Tiger goalkeeper Cristine Aquino and an ETBU defender. Junior Katie Makanani took advantage of the opportunity as she tallied on the free shot with a bullet down the middle for her second goal of the season. It was just the second penalty kick by the Comets on the season.

The Comets had a  chance to double their lead early in the second half when junior Leah Bowyer and sophomore Emily Hokanson both broke free behind the ETBU defense. However, a great defensive stop by the Tigers forced UTD to take the ball out wide, setting up shot by Hokanson in the 47th minute that just missed wide.

UTD would finally add to its lead in the 77th minute when Bowyer finished off a well-executed attack started by Udenze and Hokanson. Bowyer found herself alone one-on-one against the Tiger keeper and easily slid the ball into the back of the net for her team-leading ninth goal of the season.

Despite the one-sided score, the game was close statistically. ETBU outshot the Comets 14-13, and forced Andrea Jones into six saves, including a pair of back-to-back point-blank opportunities early that Jones was able to snuff out.

The Comets return to action Saturay when they host LeTourneau. Game time is 1 p.m. at the UTD Soccer Field.

BOX SCORE