The Lady Mustangs dominated the ULM Warhawks 6-1 in its season opener Friday night at Westcott field.

SMU scored four goals in the first half — one coming from first-year Taylor Jackson and another from fellow freshman Kelsey Gorney.

“I thought we came out and played really well at the beginning of the game,” head coach Chris Petrucelli said. “[We] effectively ended the game early.”

Junior Midfielder Rikki Clarke drew first blood for the Mustangs with a well-placed shot in the 16th minute. Clarke finished the night with a goal and two assists in 69 minutes of play.

“[Clarke] has played really well since we came back,” said Petrucelli. “Her fitness level is probably at the highest it’s ever been. So she started the season early.”

After Clarke’s score, the floodgates opened. Less than six minutes later, Gorney struck from 22 yards out – giving the Mustangs a 2-0 lead.

On Friday night, two goals and two assists were provided by first-years.

“They didn’t look like freshmen tonight,” Petrucelli said. “I have been impressed with them from day one. They may be even a little better than I thought they
would be.”

Petrucelli believes his team can score and he has a number of different weapons he can use to put up points.

Perhaps one of the biggest weapons Petrucelli has is junior standout Shelby Redman. She tallied two goals in 58 minutes of play, demonstrating why she was selected to the American Athletic Conference preseason team.

SMU dominated the match from start to finish, out-shooting ULM at 15-1. In fact, that the Warhawks didn’t get on the board until late in the match, when the Mustangs had made a defensive mistake.

By putting the game away rather quickly, the Mustangs were able to play a lot of their reserves and rest a few key starters.

“It was really good for us to play a lot of players and limit the minutes of [others],” Petrucelli said. “We should be relatively fresh going into [Arkansas].”

With the victory, the Lady Mustangs now hold a career record of 1-0-0 over ULM. The win also marks the 350th career win for head coach Petrucelli. He is one of sixteen other NCAA women’s soccer coaches to reach that milestone.

“It takes a lot of years to get that many,” said Petrucelli. “It means I have coached some pretty good players and been around some pretty good people.”

Petrucelli’s all-time record is 350-118-40, giving him a winning percentage of .728.

The Lady Mustangs played Arkansas on Sunday but will return to the Hilltop to host Colorado State Friday Aug. 30 at noon.