ABILENE, Texas – The Hardin-Simmons' Cowgirl soccer team continued its strong run through American Southwest Conference play with a 5-0 victory over Howard Payne on Saturday evening at the HSU Soccer Complex. The Cowgirls improved to 6-2-1 overall and remained unbeaten in conference play at 3-0.
Hardin-Simmons controlled play from the opening whistle, out-shooting Howard Payne 29-3 and holding a 16-1 advantage in shots on goal.
Maeve Connerty opened the scoring in the 27
th minute, finishing a pass from
Savannah Ruiz to give the Cowgirls a 1-0 lead.
The Cowgirls doubled their advantage late in the first half when
Tatum Barnett found the back of the net in the 43
rd minute, sending Hardin-Simmons into halftime with a 2-0 lead.
Hardin-Simmons wasted little time extending the margin after the break.
Aras King scored less than five minutes into the second half off an assist from Connerty to make it 3-0.
Taylor Koch added a pair of second-half goals, scoring in the 79
th and 85
th minutes to cap the Cowgirls' offensive outburst. Ruiz and
Maddie Martinez assisted on Koch's second goal of the evening.
Connerty finished with a goal and an assist, while Ruiz recorded two assists. Koch led the attack with two goals as five different Cowgirls contributed to the scoring effort.
Defensively, Hardin-Simmons limited Howard Payne to just one shot on goal.
Rebecca Hall,
Samantha Longoria, and
Peyton Scott combined for the shutout in goal.
Hardin-Simmons will play its next game at East Texas Baptist on Oct. 8 at 5 p.m. in Marshall, Texas.
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