ENMU women drop pair in homestand

PORTALES — Annabel Sweeney wasn’t put to the test much in Thursday’s Lone Star Conference women’s soccer match against Eastern New Mexico University, but she came up big late.

The St. Edward’s junior made only two saves in goal all night, but both came in a flurry during the 75th minute and the Hilltoppers held on for a 2-1 Lone Star Conference victory over ENMU at Greyhound Stadium.

On the same possession, ENMU’s Karina Martinez and Josefina Villa fired high-quality shots on Sweeney from inside the box, but she was equal to the challenge both times in preserving a lead created when freshman forward Reagan Dykes scored from about 25 yards out in the 61st minute.

“She had two big saves,” second-year ENMU coach Joshua Smith acknowledged of Sweeney. “You have to finish those chances. If you don’t, you find yourself on the wrong side of the score.”

The Austin, Texas-based Hilltoppers (7-4-1, 6-0-1 LSC) moved ahead of Angelo State (9-2-1, 5-1-1), a 4-1 loser on Thursday at West Texas A&M, for second place in the league. Heading into Saturday’s slate, they were one-half game behind 11th-ranked Dallas Baptist (10-0-1, 7-0-0).

While the Hilltoppers are yet to lose in league play during their inaugural season in the LSC, veteran coach Nick Cowell was nonetheless relieved to survive this one.

“Our team is struggling with turning possessional dominance into goals,” he said of St. Ed’s 13-3 advantage in shots on goal.

Despite that statistic, the Greyhounds (4-5-1, 1-5-0 LSC) hung in there most of the way, but could not avoid absorbing a fourth consecutive loss.

“We’ve got nine or 10 girls out for the season,” Smith said. “We fought hard. We made two mistakes and they capitalized. They’re a good team.”

The Hilltoppers broke through when junior forward-midfielder Eli Chavez snuck a header past ENMU keeper Whitney Dockweiler 33 minutes into the first half. The Hounds tied it when sophomore midfielder Desiree Morgan beat Sweeney to the left side of the net less than four minutes before halftime — her team-leading fourth goal of the season but ENMU’s only other shot on goal all night.

Dockweiler finished the match with 11 saves.

The Hilltoppers were set to face another tough test on Saturday at WT. Most of St. Ed’s remaining clashes are against the LSC’s upper echelon.

“A conference championship is still in our own hands,” Cowell said. “There’s a lot of games between now and then. Right now, we have to get ready for WT; they have a good team.”

Meantime, Smith thinks the Hounds can build on their performance against one of the LSC’s top squads.

“For us, you can take a lot of positives,” he said. “I think our work ethic is good. We just have to learn from these moments.”

Angelo State blanks Hounds — In a rematch of last season’s Lone Star Conference championship, the visiting Rambelles outshot the Hounds 11-6, including 5-2 on goal, and got the lone just over seven minutes into the second half when Chloe Souza put a shot past Dockweiler.

Junior Kira Miller posted her fourth shutout in as many starts against ENMU dating back to last season, turning away both of ENMU’s shots on goal.

The Greyhounds head to Texas A&M-International on Thursday.