Box Score RICHARDSON, TX (10.22.11) - The UT Dallas women's soccer team laid claim to a first-round bye in the upcoming American Southwest Conference Championship Tournament Saturday night with a hard-fought 1-0 victory over UT Tyler.
Senior
Katie Makanani, who was all over the field throughout the game, headed home a corner kick from
Brittany Ansel 20 minutes into the second half to tally the only goal of a game which likely decided second place in the ASC race behind undefeated Hardin-Simmons University.
Makanani emerged out of a crowd of players from both squads to redirect Ansel's nicely-placed serve past a diving Paige Harris of UTT. (
See VIDEO of the goal.) The Comet defense, which continually shut down almost every Patriot attack, took care of the rest as the UTD midfield, back line and keeper
Brittany Best tallied their 10th shutout of the season.
With the win, UTD improved to 13-3 overall, but more importantly, 11-1 in the ASC race with just one conference match remaining (Tuesday afternoon against the University of the Ozarks). Tyler, 9-6-1 overall, fell to 8-3 in conference play and will be unable to catch the Comets for the No. 2 seed with just two games left.
The Comets forced Harris to be on her toes throughout the match, firing 18 shots in her direction. Harris made six stops with just the one goal scored against her. Best, however, did her one better. The Comet keeper made just three saves, but all were on solid, point-blank shots in front of the net. She benefited from the stellar play of thte Comet defense, which gave up just seven shots and one corner kick during the match.
UTD will face Ozarks in their final ASC regular season game Tuesday afternoon at 1 pm and wrap up the regular season Thursday night against Centenary. Due to Centenary's provisional status with the NCAA as a Division III school (after making the transition from Division I), the Ladies of Centenary are not eligible for post-season play due to some scholarship athletes, and thus their games do not count as conference matches.
BOX SCORE