North Texas Daily

The Mean Green won their Conference USA home opener Sunday with a 4-0 victory over the Roadrunners.

With the win, North Texas moves to 2-0 in conference play and remains undefeated at home this season.

“Starting off conference with two wins is huge,” head soccer coach John Hedlund said. “We want to protect home field and go 4-0 before we have to get [on] the road again. I’m happy to get this win because we’re up at six points in the conference standings. We want to just keep it going and at the end of the year be in the picture to win another conference title.”

This was the Mean Green’s first home game since Sept. 2 when they defeated Pittsburgh 4-1.

North Texas was supposed to have five consecutive road matches, but three of those matches were canceled due to rain. Two of the cancellations were against conference opponents in Old Dominion and Middle Tennessee.

Senior forward Aaliyah Nolan said the team was very excited to play at home again and to return to the pitch for a weekend game, which they haven’t had since Sept. 2.

“We haven’t had a Sunday game in three weeks because of rain, so we were ready to play in front of our fans again,” Nolan said. “As a whole, we were just very excited to have our home opener and come out with a shut-out win.”

The UNT women’s soccer team is currently ranked 31 in the NCAA. The team has won two games so far in Conference USA. Omar Gonzalez

Sophomore forward Berklee Peters scored two goals in the first 10 minutes of the match to give the Mean Green a 2-0 lead. The first goal by Peters was assisted by senior Taylor Torres, and the second goal was assisted by Elle Marie DeFrain. Peters has scored three goals in the past two matches on only four shot attempts.

“I’ve really been working on my own game and connecting with my other two forwards in practices,” Peters said. “They have given me a lot of confidence, and we all really work well together.”

Nolan also scored two goals of her own during the second half against the Roadrunners. She scored her fourth goal of the season during minute 63 on a pass from Peters and then two minutes later, found the top right corner of the net on a left-footer from outside the box.

Nolan received a yellow card for arguing with the referee on a goal kick just minutes before her two goals. She said that the yellow card fueled her to play even harder.

“The yellow card kind of fired me up a little bit,” Nolan said. “I don’t like bad calls but getting a yellow card was alright. Instead of taking it out on a player, I decided I was just going to score for my team.”

The Mean Green are outscoring their opponents 22-3 this season. Coach Hedlund said that with senior defender Dominique James and sophomore goalkeeper Kelsey Brann, North Texas has really been able to limit their opponents shot attempts which results in fewer goals.

“Dom is a kid who is the fastest player in the league, so I never want to take her off of the field,” Hedlund said. “And Kelsey has been playing unbelievable at [goalie]. She’s been tremendous, solid and very consistent for us. With those two leading the back, we are a very hard team to score on.”

In the latest NCAA RPI rankings, North Texas is ranked No. 31 — the program’s highest RPI ranking in team history.

The Mean Green continue conference play at 7 p.m. on Friday when they host Rice, who was picked to finish No. 1 in the preseason C-USA polls.

Featured Image: Senior midfielder Katie Gernsbacher talks with junior forward Aaliyah Nolan after a win against the University of Alabama at Birmingham. The Mean Green broke UAB’s 9-game winning streak with a score of 1-0. Rachel Walters