DENTON — In its Conference USA opener, the defending league champion North Texas soccer team defeated Old Dominion 1-0 Friday night at home.

The Mean Green's (6-3-0, 1-0-0) Berklee Peters scored the the lone goal, which came in the 71st minute off an assist from freshman Allie Byrd. It is Peters' team-leading seventh goal of the year, which is one more than she had all of last year.

With Friday's home conference win, UNT extends its already NCAA record to 50 straight home league matches without a loss. Its last home conference loss came on Oct. 31, 2008, when Peters was just 10 years old. 

"I'm happy with the pressure we were able to put on them throughout the match," said head coach John Hedlund. "ODU is a good team and I thought we did a great job taking them out of their possesion game and not allowing them to get any type of offensive rhythem."

Heading into Friday's match, Old Dominion had the Mean Green's number. The Monarchs (6-1-1, 0-1-0) were the only league opponent to beat UNT over the past two seasons and they had done it twice — both times coming in Norfolk, Virginia.

With that on their minds, the Mean Green came out on Friday in the conference opener on the attack.

UNT put its first goal on net by the fifth-minute and had taken three total shots by then too. 

Possession heavily weighed in the Mean Green's favor but like the previous two matches they just couldn't quite find the back of the net. Freshman Michelle Gonzalez was all over the field, attacking loose balls and working hard for her shot. 

Then in the second half Peters dialed up her chance and finished.

The junior from Keller found the ball at her feet with space in a crowded ODU box and beat the keeper. As the ball crossed the goal line Peters let out a scream of both excitement and relief that could be heard from the stands. 

Peters has now scored in three of North Texas' last four matches and the team is 5-1 in games when she does score. 

"Freshmen Allie (Byrd) and Marta (Michelle Gonzalez) played outstanding and of course Berklee coming up with the winning goal was huge," Hedlund said."Along with our great defense and Kelsey getting the shutout."

Friday was also keeper Kelsey Brann's fifth shutout of the year. She now has 15 for her career, which is the fourth-most in program history. Furthermore, the Humble, Texas, native who is just a redshirt sophomore, has 21 career wins at goal for the Mean Green, which is the sixth-most in program history. On Friday, Brann faced two shots on goal from ODU and saved all of them, including a diving save to her right. 

UNT has Sunday off but will host Southern Miss on Thursday Sept. 26 and Middle Tennessee on Sunday Sept. 29.

QUICK SHOTS

• North Texas has now won 12 straight home matches. The program record is 17.
• The Mean Green are now 3-0 all-time at home versus ODU.
• North Texas is unbeaten in 23 straight home matches (league and/or non-conference). They are one away from tying the program record