DENTON, Texas -- Midwestern State arrived at Pioneer Soccer Park Tuesday night needing three points to bolster its chances of qualifying for the Lone Star Conference postseason tournament.
The Mustangs erupted with a season-high five-goal outburst, and sophomore goalkeeper
Lexi Jackson made five saves to log her fourth clean sheet of the season. MSU coasted to a 5-0 victory over Texas Woman's and moved up the table in the LSC.
Midwestern State scored in the opening minute.
Following a throw-in, junior forward
Olivia Okoye switched the attack to the left side. Senior midfielder
Alyssa Salinas found
Lexi Beck on the near post for a header that went past freshman goalkeeper Kailey Wehrmann, who was making her first career start for the Pioneers. Beck, a sophomore midfielder, tallied her second goal of the season and the sixth of her career.
Midwestern State took a 2-0 lead in the 14th minute. Beck threaded a through ball up the left side to Okoye, who calmly struck the ball with her right foot into an open goal for her fourth goal of the season.
The Mustangs took an insurmountable 3-0 lead in the 41st minute. Senior midfielder
Alyssa Salinas delivered a corner kick from the right side. The ball was cleared by TWU — but it was sent back toward Salinas outside the penalty box on the right side. Salinas served it into the area, and freshman midfielder
Jadyn Lopez beat Wehrmann to a loose ball inside the 6-yard box. Lopez scored her second goal of the season for Midwestern State.
In the 63rd minute, MSU took advantage of another opportunity from the corner arc. Senior midfielder
Senna Garcia sent in a perfect ball from the left side, and senior defender
Keyara Zuniga headed in her second goal of the season from outside the 6-yard box into the upper right corner of the net.
Junior midfielder
Marissa Resendez took a free kick from 40 yards out in the 87th minute, and delivered the ball perfectly to the head of sophomore forward
Emma Short, who banged in the fifth goal of the game — and the first of her collegiate career — off the left post.
Beck leads the Mustangs with 11 points this season after registering a goal and an assist in the victory. Okoye also had a goal and an assist for Midwestern and has 10 points for the season.
Midwestern State scored five goals for the first time since defeating UT Permian Basin in Odessa last year, 5-1.
MSU improved its conference record to 4-6-1 with 13 points and vaulted past UT Tyler into seventh place in the LSC standings.
The Patriots lost at home to St. Mary's earlier in the evening, 1-0.
Midwestern State is 7-8-1 overall with a 2-6-1 road record.
TWU falls to 1-5-5 in conference play and is 1-9-6 overall this season. The Pioneers completed their home schedule without a win, going 0-6-3 at Pioneer Soccer Park.
The final regular season game for MSU will be at Stang Park on Friday. The Mustangs host second-place Angelo State at 5 p.m. The Rambelles are unbeaten in their last four matches following a 2-1 victory over St. Edward's in their penultimate game of the regular season on Tuesday night.
--MSU Mustangs.com--
