By Gene Schallenberg
Huntsville Item

Huntsville -  Freshman Tricia Mallory scored twice as Sam Houston exploded for six second half goals as the Bearkats rolled up a 6-0 victory over Prairie View A&M in SHSU's final non-conference women's soccer match of the season.

The six goals were a season high for the 4-6-1 Sam Houston squad that had tallied just nine goals in its first 10 matches.

After being unable to take advantage of a few scoring opportunities in the first 45 minutes, the Bearkats exploded for six goals in the second half Friday. Sam Houston kept on attacking, which provided very few chances for Prairie View A&M as the Bearkats defeated the Panthers 6-0.

"I thought we did a better job, obviously, in the second half," SHSU head coach Tom Brown said. "We were creating some opportunities, but they didn't fall for us. We talked about creating wide attacks because that's where we had our most success in the first half. Most of our goals in the second half came off those situations."

Sam Houston, which improved to 4-6-1 on the season, had a chance to take a slim lead right before halftime, but freshman Carly Rheman's header flew just over the crossbar. Even though the Kats had six times as many shots on target as the Panthers, they still had a stalemate on their hands.

Not long after the break, though, the ball started to bounce the Bearkats' way.

Less than four minutes into the second half, Sam Houston had the ball inside the penalty area with several Bearkats in the vicinity. After a couple of attempts were blocked by Prairie View goalkeeper Melissa Aguayo, sophomore midfielder Hillary Ackerman put it into the net on a third effort.

"The ball was just being pinged around a lot," Ackerman said. "My teammates and I were all in there. It just so happened to fall to me and I just kicked it in. I just knew that someone had to take it and I actually shot it with my left foot, which was a surprise."

A few minutes later, the Bearkats doubled their lead when sophomore Paige Rodriguez drilled the ball into the goal from 23 yards out.

"Even if it wasn't me, just whoever put that first goal in gave us a big boost," Ackerman said. "After that, we knew that we could get more in. We just needed one to get us started."

The score remained unchanged over the next 15 minutes until the Bearkats went on a scoring rampage in the final 20 minutes.

Freshman Tricia Mallory added a pair of goals in the 71st and 77th minutes.

Mallory capped a picture-perfect exchange, started by senior defender Nichole Watkins, who sent the ball diagonally across the field to the corner flag where sophomore Emily Jurecka was waiting

Jurecka then crossed the ball across the mouth of the goal and Mallory tapped it through.

Five minutes later, Watkins again set up Mallory, who headed the ball just inside the near post past Aguayo's fingertips.

"Most of our goals came from those wide crosses," Mallory said. "We just have to keep finding what works for us."

Freshman Emily Edenstrom and sophomore Amanda Biega provided the finishing touches for the Bearkats in the final minutes.

Late in the game, Kelsi Brown served the ball up on a corner kick and Edenstrom directed it into the back of the net on a header.

In the final minute, Biega pushed in the sixth goal of the game, which tied Sam Houston's cumulative goal total in the season's previous 10 matches, off a cross from freshman Catherine Abitua.

"We wanted tonight to finish this period of our season before conference feeling good about ourselves," the coach said. "We spent a lot of time working on attacking opportunities during training. It was good to see it pay off here in the second half."

With their nonconference slate out of the way, the Bearkats travel to Central Arkansas and Northwestern State next weekend to kick off Southland Conference action.

"We'll have the weekend off since we don't have a Sunday game. The biggest thing is leaving the nonconference period feeling positive about the team and the potential of the team," Brown added. "I think that will help carry us as we head into conference next week on the road."

Soccer Game Summary (Final)

Sam Houston State Soccer
Prairie View A&M vs Sam Houston (Sep 24, 2010 at Huntsville, Tx)
Date: Sep 24, 2010  Attendance:

Goals by period       1  2  Tot
 -------------------------------
 Prairie View A&M....  0  0 -  0
 Sam Houston.........  0  6 -  6

 SCORING SUMMARY:
  1.  49:05 SHSU Ackerman, Hilary (Mallory, Tricia) - 14 ft out after ricochet off goalkeeper
  2.  53:02 SHSU Rodriguez, Paige (Edenstrom, Emily;Johnson, Natalie)
  3.  70:19 SHSU Mallory, Tricia (Watkins, Nichole;Jurecka, Emily)
  4.  76:46 SHSU Mallory, Tricia (Watkins, Nichole;Abitua, Catherine)
  5.  87:43 SHSU Edenstrom, Emily (Brown, Kelsi) - Header off corner
  6.  89:36 SHSU Biega, Amanda (Abitua, Catherine)

 Shots: Prairie View A&M 6, Sam Houston 24
 Saves: Prairie View A&M 10 (AGUAYO, Melissa 10), Sam Houston 2 (Pence,
 Jenny 1; Sikinger, Kelley 1)