HOUSTON—Three first half goals, including one in the first two minutes, set the tone, as homestanding Houston beat the Northwestern State soccer team 5-0 on Thursday evening at the Carl Lewis International Complex.
NSU (0-3) dropped its third in a row during its difficult stretch to begin the season, as the Cougars (1-0-1) took control early in their home opener after having eight days off prior to the game.
"We didn't get off to a good start to the game," head coach
Ian Brophy said. "I felt like just conceding a goal in that way. I felt like we could have defended that situation much easier. It starts us behind the 8-ball. With that being said, we had a couple of chances to tie it at 1-1 and felt like if we just capitalize on our opportunities a little bit better, maybe it's a different game.
"I think overall that it was not the start we wanted, but I was happy with how we played through portions of the game, especially in the second half when I felt like we were able to control possession and play more of the more how we wanted to."
Houston scored in the second minute and added two more goals in the game's first 30 minutes.
Early in the contest, Houston had a long boot into the box that came to Samira Minor and her shot from the middle of the box went into to the back of the net.
NSU had a chance to break even in the 20
th minute on a long shot from defender
Sophie Minnillo from her own side of the field, as her long boot bounced in front of Houston goalkeeper Sierra McCluer and the ball bounced over her head and the Cougars keeper had to scramble back and saved it a mere feet from the goal line to keep NSU off the board.
Following the save by McCluer, the Cougars went to work offensively, as they found the back of the net twice in 3:17 to extend the lead to three.
In the 26
th minute, the Cougars scored off a bouncing ball in the box, which found the way to Danielle Shannon, who scored top left of the goal to double the lead to 2-0.
Houston tallied another off a penalty kick in the 29
th minute following a handball in the box, which was scored off the foot of Minor for her second of the game, beating
Saki Tsuchiya, who recorded a pair of saves in 45 minutes of play.
Audrey Marfia came in at goalkeeper for the Demons in the second half, where she stopped five shots and kept Houston scoreless in the final 32 minutes.
"Audrey stepped in the second half and played well," Brophy said. "I thought we did really well in terms of stepping in when she was needed and helped with our distribution, but also really helped us on set pieces and I felt like she made us more secure on corners.
"But at the same time, that's not to take away anything from Saki, who I thought just had a tough first half, but she's still a very good goalkeeper and someone we believe in."
Houston added a pair of goals in the final 45 minutes to seal the win, as Bailey Cate scored in the box in the 50
th minute and Skylar Miller added one in the 58
th minute on a header to round out the scoring.
The Demons had two shots, one each from Minnillo and
Kendall Hemperley with the latter being a native of Katy and was playing in front of friends and family.
"I think in the second half we saw some of that consistency we look for return and we saw some of what we wanted to see in terms of the way we want to play," Brophy said. And we saw real great moments in the second half. It's just about continuing to increase that consistency and making sure we can do it over 90 minutes. It's hard to do against these Power 4 teams. But at the same time, this is why we test ourselves because if we can do it against these teams for long periods, then we know when we get into conference play, we can do it for long periods."
NSU continues its stretch of five consecutive road games to begin the season Sunday when it heads to UL Lafayette before heading to Alcorn State on Sept. 3. The first game in front of the home faithful on Sept. 6 against Louisiana Tech.
