Soccer Watch

All-Big 12 goalkeeper Abby Smith made a penalty kick save with just three minutes left to play, to preserve the UT Longhorns' 2-1 win over Illinois State on Sunday, after shutting out Samford, 2-0, on Friday night. The Horns, now 3-2-1 on the year, have outshot every opponent they've faced at home. The St. Edward's women, meanwhile, opened their season with home wins over Southern Nazarene and Texas Woman's U. (6-0 and 3-1, respectively), and rose to 12th in the national rankings. St. Ed's men lost 2-1 to Colorado School of Mines (ranked sixth in the nation), and drew 3-3 against Fort Lewis.

The United States extended their mastery over suddenly enfeebled Mexico, with a 2-0 shutout win Tuesday night in World Cup qualifying in Columbus, Ohio. With that, the U.S. punched its ticket for Brazil next summer, and left Mexico dangling precariously in fifth place in the six-team final qualifying group, with just two games to go. Costa Rica, Argentina, Italy, and the Netherlands all qualified on Tuesday as well, joining host Brazil, and four Asian qualifiers. The 22 remaining spots will be decided starting Oct. 10.