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Life > Athletics > Soccer > 9/16/07
HERNANDEZ HAT TRICK GIVES UIW 3-1 WIN OVER TWU
DENTON, Texas (September 16) – A hat trick by freshman forward Sarah Hernandez carried the University of Incarnate Word Cardinals to a 3-1 win over the Texas Woman’s University Pioneers on Sunday afternoon at the TWU Soccer Field.
Hernandez, a product of Antonian Prep School in San Antonio, Texas, opened the scoring in the game in the 15th minute of the first half when she slipped between two Pioneer defenders and collected a lead pass from her twin sister, Emily. After waiting for TWU goalkeeper Aly Vincent to leave her line, Hernandez calmly flicked the ball into the Pioneers net to give the Cardinals a 1-0 advantage.
With the one-goal lead, UIW was able to control the pace of play for the majority of the game. TWU started to make some offensive headway midway through the second half and, in the 66th minute, the Pioneers finally got on the scoreboard. After a TWU corner kick was punched out of the UIW box, the Pioneers’ Andrea Choate, a freshman forward, tracked down the loose ball to the far left of the Cardinals goal. Choate delivered a beautiful centering pass that floated towards the UIW cage. The Pioneers’ Romy Luna leaped high into the air and was able to head the ball into the Cardinals net and tie the game at one.
The Pioneers momentum from their tying the goal did not last long. Less than four minutes after the TWU strike, Hernandez scored a pair of goals just nineteen seconds apart that proved to be the difference in the game. At the 69:06 mark, Hernandez headed a centering pass from freshman defender Cassidy Ballantyne into the TWU goal. After a TWU turnover on the ensuing kickoff, Hernandez streaked free into the Pioneers goal box and chipped a lead pass from sophomore forward Ashley Phipps past Vincent.
The three-goal performance by Hernandez raised her UIW team-leading goal total to 6 and team-high point total to 13.
TWU head coach Fleur Benatar was generous with her praise of Hernandez following the game.
“She’s definitely an extremely talented player,” stated Benatar. “I knew going into this game that we were going to have to control her if we wanted to win. Unfortunately, we couldn’t do that. She kept attacking, and after we scored our goal, we kind of relaxed, giving her the opportunities she needed to put in those two quick goals.”
Benatar also felt that her squad’s slow start caught up to the Pioneers in the end.
“We didn’t start the game well, and because of that, we were on our heels from the beginning. If we want to defeat a quality opponent such as Incarnate Word, we have to play a full 90 minutes of aggressive and attacking soccer,” she said.
The loss snaps a four-game unbeaten streak for the Pioneers and drops their season record to 3-4-1. The win for UIW, their fourth in a row, improves the Cardinals record to 4-1-1.
Next up for TWU will be a road game at Harding University on Friday, September 21. On Sunday, September 23, the Pioneers will open Lone Star Conference play with a 2:00 p.m. game on their home field versus East Central University. |
