OU Sets School Record; Tops Texas 2-0

NORMAN, Okla. -- The OU soccer team (9-1-0) extended its winning streak to a school-record seven games on Sunday with a 2-0 victory over No. 21 Texas (3-5-1) at John Crain Field. Sunday was the Big 12 opener for OU, who won its conference opener for the first time since 2002, as Texas fell to 0-2 in conference play.

The Sooners' 2-0 win on Sunday evened the all-time series at five games apiece. OU is also 4-1 lifetime at home against Texas and has shut out the Longhorns on four occasions.

After a scoreless first half, OU's offense rallied with two second half goals and was led by sophomore Tenesha Duncan's fourth goal of the season (54:42) and junior Savannah Scott's team-leading fifth tally (70:47) of 2005.

Box Score: OU 2, Texas 0 | Updated 2005 Stats

“On Friday, we concluded one of our seasons with an 8-1 non-conference record and today was a brand new beginning to the season and we got off to a nice start,” said OU head coach Randy Evans. “This is a great win but we have to focus on our next game and continue to take the season one game at a time.”

Evans, in his seventh season at OU, reached the 60-win plateau at OU (60-53-11) with his fourth career win over Texas on Sunday. The Sooners are off to the program's best start in school history (9-1). The seven consecutive wins tops the previous school record set by the 2002 team that opened the season with a perfect 6-0 record.

Sophomore goalkeeper Jennifer Nichols (9-1-0) made two saves to record her fifth shutout of the season. Nichols faced 14 shots from the Longhorns, opposite OU's 12 shots. Her goal-against average lowered to 0.58 after the shutout. Texas' Dianna Pfenninger played the full 90 minutes and fell to 1-3 after making four saves.

Senior captain Lauren MacIver recorded her team-best sixth assist of the season on the Sooners' first goal. At the 54:42 mark, MacIver set Duncan up on the right side of the goal. After MacIver dribbled through the Texas defense and across the top of the box, Duncan received the pass and made an athletic play, falling down to her right, to flick the ball out of Pfenninger's reach and into the back of the net. MacIver has recorded 16 career assists, good for first place in OU history.

In the 71st minute, Scott scored her third goal of the weekend on a breakaway that was made possible on a down-field pass from sophomore Jayme Seetin and a cross from the right side off junior Kady Kelly's foot. It was the first career assist (and point) for Seetin and the third assist of the year for Kelly.

The Sooners and Longhorns had several other scoring opportunities but both teams came up unsuccessful. The first of which came for Texas with 15 minutes left in the first half. Longhorn Kasey Moore took the free kick from 25 yards out and after the ball slipped through Nichols' hands, Texas' Erin Davis tapped the ball in for the apparent goal. But after further review, the goal was disallowed after a foul was called on Texas during the play.

In the second half, MacIver and senior Kristin Vesely had chances to put the game out of reach on breakaways but Pfenninger came up big with saves on both occasions.

Sunday's game was the first time this season that OU was outshot in a victory. Despite the score, Texas led 14-12 in the shot column and 3-0 in corner kicks.

OU has scored 20 goals, to the opposition's three, during its current winning streak (averaging 2.86 goals per game). In addition, OU has outshot the opposition (183-77) in its nine wins this season.

The Sooners will resume Big 12 play next weekend with a pair of home games at John Crain Field. OU will host Texas Tech on Friday, Sept. 30 at 7:30 p.m. and then battle Colorado on Sunday, Oct. 2 at 1 p.m.

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