AUSTIN -- Midwestern State's Destinee Williamson struck for an early goal allowing the Mustangs to ride a brilliant defensive effort to a 1-0 win over St. Edward's Saturday afternoon at Lewis-Chan Family Field.
 
"I don't know if I ever seen a defensive stand like we had today. It was mind blowing the effort we showed to preserve this result," MSU coach Damian Clarke said.
 
The Mustangs remained unbeaten at 5-0-4 following Friday night's scoreless draw with 11th-ranked Angelo State with a road win over the defending South Central Region champions. MSU carries an unbeaten mark through nine matches for just the second time in program history.
 
"This weekend allows us to build some confidence that we can compete with national contenders. This is a big step," Clarke said. "I don't think we played the type of football that we want to and will. We played to our mentality which is a very strong team. Our mentality was unbreakable today."
 
Williamson gave MSU all the offense it would need racing to a through ball in the 10th minute before chipping the ball over St. Edward's goalkeeper Lorrie Santoy's head for her fifth goal of the season.
 
"We won the ball in the midfield and (senior midfielder Katy) Catney was able to slip the ball to her," Clarke said. "We had been talking to our forwards running to a different gap than where the ball was played. She was able to run onto the ball and chip it to the far post. It was a great finish."
 
Then the Mustangs settled in to play defense without the benefit of a shot for the remaining 80 minutes.
 
The starting back four of juniors Alexandria Edwards and sophomores Katie Huff, Dakota Baze and Haley Britton along with reserve junior defender Callie Briseno played strong to hold the HIlltoppers to 10 shots.
 
"It was a team effort to hold to what we had earned which was a good goal," Clarke said.
 
When St. Edward's did manage to work a shot on goal, goalkeeper Courtney Burnette stood tall for the Mustangs.
 
The redshirt-freshman from Irving made three saves including a highlight stop of Whyneigh Duffy's shot in the 74th minute.
 
"Courtney is just unbelievable in goal for us," Clarke said "She made a save in the final 15 minutes. The girl absolutely smashed it to the near post and Courtney made a one-handed save falling backward."
 
Burnette logged her sixth shutout of the season to lower her goals against average to 0.40 to rank amongst national leader.
 
"We still have a lot of work to do. We can't just depend on Destinee and the back four to defend," Clarke said. "We need to be better in the midfield and just to keep the ball. Part of it is the competition and part of is us needing to be more sophisticated and we will."
 
Midwestern State returns to Lone Star Conference play Friday night against Texas Woman's at the MSU Soccer Field. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.