Mencacci Finds 2nd Goal in as Many Games; Crusaders tie McMurry
IRVING, Texas - The University of Dallas women's soccer team and McMurry University finished Sunday's hot afternoon match in a 1-1 draw. With less than seven minutes remaining in regulation, the Crusaders (1-2-1) netted the necessary equalizer off the foot of Alyssa Mencacci (League City, Texas), her second goal in two games over the weekend. Both sides had four shots in the overtimes but would finish in a stalemate. McMurry (3-0-3) settled for its third tie on the season, while UD played in its first overtime battle.
The Warhawks had several early chances within the first six minutes, as Bekah Gonzalez (Reno, Nev.) made a team save by catching up to a ball heading to the goal and flipped it up. Seconds later, another long attempt by McMurry nailed the crossbar. Dallas countered the first three shots with three-of-four including consecutive looks by UD's freshman Mencacci.
At the 23:37 minute mark, McMurry's Krista Thrasher got back-to-back shots with the first blocked and then the rebound coming back to her for a successful goal. The visitors led 1-0 at the half, with each side even in shots at eight.
In the 84th minute, the Crusaders earned a corner kick taken by Gigi Garcia Orozco (San Antonio, Texas). McMurry's goalkeeper, Jordan Gregory (1-0-1) leaped and punched the ball out toward the top of the box to Dallas' Lexi Tocci (Austin, Texas). Tocci found Orozco on the far-right side who crossed it to the other side of the box where Izzy Barajas (Bryan, Texas) found her classmate on the game-tying goal. The trio of freshmen all have tallied multiple points for Dallas.
Neither side could find the back of the netting in the last few minutes of the contest. McMurry took the first and its lone shot in the first overtime, while UD's pair of shots came from Barajas and Mencacci – saved at 97:53. McMurry had two huge chances the final overtime, as Alyssa Daily was one-on-one on Natalie Kutac (Bulverde, Texas) and the junior got the crucial stop to her right and UD cleared the ball from the threat. With under two minutes, Dally had another long shot just miss by clanking off the crossbar. UD's Monica O'Donnell gave a similar attempt on the counter and missed barely going high.
Mencacci placed three of her four shots on goal, while Orozco matched Daily for a game-high of six. Despite a 20-16 difference favoring the Warhawks on shots, the shots on goal were 7-5 with them holding the edge. Kutac had four saves against just as many faced in 65 minutes. A trio of goalkeepers were used by MCM and combined for a quartet of saves. McMurry got called for 20 fouls compared to nine by UD. This included a 15-5 difference through regulation.
SOCIAL MEDIA
�� team work gets the job done on this late equalizer!#WeAreUD #d3soc #UDallas pic.twitter.com/83tMykTof7
— UDallas Athletics (@UDallasSports) September 16, 2019
UP NEXT
Dallas stays home for a designated non-conference game with Schreiner University on Friday, September 20. Kickoff is at 5 p.m.