The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Houston
No. 4 Soccer shuts out Houston, 4-0
09.21.2007 | Soccer
AUSTIN, Texas -- Led by freshman Niki Arlitt's two-goal performance, the fourth-ranked Longhorns blanked their third opponent of the season in a 4-0 decision over visiting Houston.
Texas stands at 5-1-1 under ninth-year head coach Chris Petrucelli while Houston moves to 3-1-1 behind its first loss of the 2007 season.
Arlitt (Houston, Texas) netted her fourth and fifth goals of the season for the first multi-goal match of her career. The first-year Longhorn has scored a goal in three consecutive games including a 6-0 win over UTSA on Sept. 14 and a 2-2 draw against LSU on Sept. 18.
Arlitt found the back of the net off a cross from NSCAA All-American senior forward Kelsey Carpenter (Allen, Texas) 64 minutes, 13 seconds into the match.
Less than 10 minutes later, Arlitt scored again off a pass from fellow rookie Alisha Ortiz (Highland Village, Texas) at 74:36. Ortiz found Arlitt in front of the six-yard box for the final goal of the match.
Texas jumped out to an early lead as Moore scored off a header just one minute, 20 seconds into the match. The All-American junior defender headed in a free kick taken by junior midfielder Courtney Gaines (Sugar Land, Texas), a first-year transfer from the University of Houston.
Freshman Kirsten Birkhold (Scottsdale, Ariz.) extended the lead to 2-0 with the first goal of her career. She settled a pass from Austin native and junior Stephanie Logterman for a shot inside the six-yard box at 36:59.
The Longhorn defense shined holding its second opponent in three matches to zero goals. UT junior goalkeeper Dianna Pfenninger (Sugar Land, Texas) saved two Houston shots on goal in 84:54 minutes of action. Senior goalkeeper Stephanie Connors (Carrollton, Texas) minded the net for the final five minutes of the match.
Equally, Houston junior goalkeeper Scott Shelby registered 15 saves and allowed four goals in her first loss of the year.
Freshmen midfielder Crystal Trevino and forward Lauri Byrne led UH in shots taken with Trevino taking the only two Cougar's shots on goal.
Texas returns to the pitch on Sunday, Sept. 23 for a 7 p.m. (CT) match against Stephen F. Austin at Myers Stadium.
TEXAS POSTGAME QUOTES
HEAD COACH Chris Petrucelli
On Houston's 4-5-1 formation: We talked about it some in the last two days. We knew that we were going to have the ball a lot so we talked about getting our backs forward. That helped us. We're fortunate that we have someone like [Stephanie] Logterman who can go forward and Kasey [Moore], when she gets forward and Jill [Gilbeau] going forward. We're starting to get Erica [Campanelli] to get some confidence -- I encouraged her like crazy to get forward. If you can bring your backs into that mix it makes you hard to beat.
FRESHMAN DFENDER Niki Arlitt
On first multi-goal game: It was awesome. Everyone got me the ball and I just made sure I was in the right place.
On building confidence from starting the match: Starting the game is great. Being on the field from the start and getting into the swing of things helps me stay composed.
On holding the lead for the entire match: After LSU, we didn't play poorly but we didn't hold the lead. This game, we scored early and focused on not letting Houston get behind us [and score]. Our defense did really well keeping the ball out of the box and, in turn, starting our offensive attack.
JUNIOR DEFENDER Jill Gilbeau
On strength of the UT defense: UH didn't take a lot of shots which is indicative of how solid we were. We didn't give up a lot of shots. We worked really well together
On helping freshman defender Erica Campanelli adjust to the veteran backline: She came in very strong. The only adjustment she had to make was getting used to our style of play. She jumped right in and is doing great.
On the aggression of the defense: The team we played against packed in toward their goal which gave us space and time. We used that to our advantage to maintain possession and control the ball.
