Men's soccer wins SMU tournament

[PonyPride]

Hashimoto's goal lifts Ponies past UNM
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Sophomore forward Duke Hashimoto converted a pass from forward Ryan Latham in the 24th minute for the game's lone goal as the SMU men's soccer team knocked off New Mexico, 1-0, to win the SMU/Mi Cocina Classic Tournament Saturday night at Westcott Field.

"It was a great goal," SMU head coach Schellas Hyndman said. "In many ways, we did a lot of things well.

"New Mexico was very aggressive in the second half, when they were down, 1-0. The second half was very difficult for us. They brought a lot of high pressure to try to create scoring chances. Our goalkeeper (junior T.J. Tomasso) and our defense played very well.

The game solidified the defense as the anchor of the team while the Ponies' young offense gets untracked. Tomasso made five saves to preserve the shutout, and the Mustangs' defensive backfield continued to gel. Already entrenched as stalwart defenders were juniors Ugo Ihemelu and Ross Spencer, but freshmen Mynor Gonzalez and Jay Needham again played with a maturity and poise that belies their youth.

Hyndman admitted to a moment of unrest when freshman midfielder Ramon Nuñez crumpled to the turf after a collision with a UNM player, but was able to breathe a sigh of relief when Nuñez re-entered the game.

Nuñez, Hashimoto, Tomasso and senior midfielder Kevin Hudson were named to the all-tournament team. Hudson was named Most Valuable Player.

"Kevin won a buinch of headers for us, which is important for us, since we're not a big team," Hyndman said. "He helped maintain the 'shape' (structure on the field) of our team, and he's always the first one to get the ball out of the back and bring it up. A lot of what we do starts with Kevin, and he did a very good job for us this weekend."

[FloridaMustang]

Not quite the offense we had with Luchi and Diego, but I am impressed with the defensive skills of some of these new guys.

Once Nunez develops, he will be a stud!
Duke Hashimoto is my all time favorite asian!

[giacfsp]

Good point - the defense is outstanding, and only going to get better.