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Men's soccer hammers Drake in long-awaited home opener

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Men's soccer hammers Drake in long-awaited home opener

Postby PonyPride » Sat Oct 13, 2001 6:26 pm

The SMU men's soccer team, ranked No. 1 in the nation for seven weeks in the NSCAA poll, improved to 10-0 this season (3-0 against Missouri Valley Conference opponents) with a 6-0 pasting of MVC foe Drake University Saturday afternoon at Westcott Field.

The game originally was scheduled for Friday night after the SMU women's team played Fresno State, but after a long delay that was caused the early completion of the SMU/FSU women's game, lightning lingered in the area, forcing the coaches to re-schedule for Saturday.

"We really wanted to play last night," SMU head coach Schellas Hyndman said after watching his team post its sixth shutout of the season Saturday afternoon. "We play (MVC rival) Creighton here tomorrow, and we'll be at a disadvantage. They played last night (a 2-0 loss at Tulsa), and we really wanted the day off in between. But that's why we changed so many things and subbed so many people today, to keep people ready for tomorrow."

Two of SMU's top players, midfielder Carl Bussey (knee) and forward Mohamed Fahim (ankle) still are recovering from injuries. Fahim played most of the game, while Bussey played about 15 minutes in each half.

When Bussey was replaced in the first half, the Ponies did not lose a step. His replacement, Jerrod Blake, scored what proved to be the game-winning goal in the 23rd minute off assists from defender Kevin Friedland and goalkeeper Byron Foss. Foss fed the ball to Friedland, who snaked a long pass through the Drake defense to Blake, who was streaking down the left sideline. Blake drew Bulldog goalkeeper Zack Brennan toward him and slid the ball underneath him to give SMU a 1-0 lead.

Blake was in on the Ponies' next score less than a minute later. Blake drove toward the left corner and lifted a long pass across the goal to midfielder Bret Corbin, who outjumped the Drake defense to head the ball back toward the center, where midfielder Diego Walsh put it in to give SMU a 2-0 lead.

Drake's Matt Sahag cost his team the third goal of the game. In the 60th minute, he and Bussey got tangled up while battling for a loose ball, but there was no call. The ball squirted through the defense to Fahim, who charged toward the goal. Sahag chased him down from behind and took him down with a hard slide tackle, setting up an SMU penalty kick, which Luchi Gonzalez converted to put SMU ahead, 3-0.

Less than five minutes later, Corbin got on to the scoring sheet, punching in a short goal off assists from Fahim and Blake, and Gonzalez made it 5-0 in the 69th minute when he put in his 13th goal of the year off assists from Corbin and freshman defender Ugo Ihemelu. The final tally of the afternoon came when freshman forward Ryan Lathamraced down the left side of the field, stopped quickly to shed a Bulldog defender and ripped a shot that glanced in off the crossbar and the right goalpost past the helpless Drake netminder.

Although the Drake goal was under siege all afternoon, the Bulldogs were not without their offensive chances, cranking eight shots on goal. In the game's waning minutes, Foss' replacement, freshman goalie T.J. Tomasso, made the save of the game, racing off the goalline to smother a would-be shot by Drake's Matt Nickell.

SMU returns to Westcott Field Sunday at 3 p.m. against longtime rival Creighton.
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