Sept. 6, 2009

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Los Angeles, Calif. - LMU made it three wins and three shutouts on the trot to end a perfect homestand with a 1-0 victory over visiting Houston Sunday afternoon at Sullivan Field. Senior Tiffany Harrison's 75th-minute goal proved the difference in giving the Lions (4-1-0) their third straight victory and sending the Cougars (0-4-0) to their fourth consecutive defeat and third by a single goal.

In the first-ever meeting between the Lions and Cougars, the teams were closer on the field than their records suggested. It took something special from Harrison to break the deadlock 15 minutes from time. Senior Lacey Bartels started the offensive in the attacking third by playing a ball from left to right to junior Kelley Lawson. Harrison waited for Lawson to settle on the ball before starting her overlapping run and Lawson played a perfectly-weighted pass that split two Cougar defenders and found Harrison in stride. The senior wasted no time, rocketing a first-time shot from just inside the penalty area inside the left post. It was her first goal of the year and sixth of her illustrious career.

The game was slow to get going for both sides, with the first shot not coming until nearly 12 minutes into the match. The Lions held a 6-4 shot advantage in the first 45 minutes but the teams went into the locker room stuck on zeros.

"One of the things we stressed this week was mental and physical endurance," Head Coach Joe Mallia said. "I thought we did a good job of keeping our composure and fighting through to the end."

The second half was much more lively and LMU had several chances to take the lead. Just two minutes in, the Lions had three straight looks but were denied by a combination of the woodwork and Houston goalie Lauren Frazier. First, junior Julie Gallaudet fired a shot that Frazier dove to parry. The ball rolled out to freshman Cori McGovern, who stung a shot from outside the 18 that came back off the underside of the crossbar. Gallaudet pounced on the rebound but Frazier was quick to recover, smothering Gallaudet's follow-up to keep the score tied.

Nine minutes later, Lawson almost gave the Lions a fortuitous lead when her attempted cross hit the top of the crossbar. That seemed to wake up the Cougars, who went on the offensive through Christine Nieva and Jessica Zavalza but each player's shot was turned away by LMU senior goalkeeper Allyssa Clark.

Harrison's goal sparked a frantic 15 minutes, with Houston pushing forward looking for an equalizer. The Cougars won four corners in the final nine minutes and had three good looks but to no avail. Melanie Adelman's 82nd-minute attempt sailed high, Lauri Bryne's shot was blocked, and Morgan Vela had perhaps the best chance, sending a right-footed shot that looked to be going into the top corner before Clark got a fingertip on it to push it over. The Cougars had one last corner kick in the final 30 seconds but it was cleared away to preserve LMU's win.

The Lions finished with a 14-11 shot advantage, the fourth time that they have held the lead in shots this year, all resulting in victories. LMU has registered at least 10 shot attempts in each of its five games this year, the longest such streak since going five straight from September 23-October 7, 2007. LMU outscored its opponents 5-0 in the homestand and is off to its best start to the season since opening 2002 4-1-0. The Lions were 3-0-2 to start the 2006 campaign.

Clark's five saves also gave the Lions their fourth shutout of the year. It was Clark's 12th career clean sheet. LMU had two streaks last year of three consecutive shutouts. Frazier stopped six shots for the Cougars.

"For us to finish the homestand having not conceded a goal shows me that our defense is playing well and is keeping organized," Mallia said. "Now we need to focus on creating and finishing opportunities on offense and hope to keep things going next week in Oregon."

LMU heads out on the road for the next two weekends, playing in two separate tournaments hosted by Pac-10 schools. Next week, the Lions will play in the Oregon Nike Tournament in Eugene, Ore., facing hosts Oregon on Friday at 7 p.m. and then Oregon State on Sunday at 11 a.m. The following week, LMU will compete against nationally-ranked Missouri and Utah at the UCLA Women's Cup.