The SMU men’s soccer team has a lot of talent — no team gets seeded No. 5 in the NCAA Tournament without a lot of gifted players. But the argument could be made that the player most responsible for the fact that the Mustangs are seeded No. 5 in the NCAA Tournament and hosting William & Mary in the third round is junior midfielder Arthur Ivo (pronounced AR-TOOR EE-vo).

Ivo isn’t the Mustangs’ leading scorer, but with 23 points (on nine goals and five assists), he trails freshman forward Juan Castillo by just one point. His nine goals trail only Castillo’s 10, and his five assists trail only senior midfielder Josue Soto’s seven.

Junior midfielder Arthur Ivo scored the game-tying goal against Creighton last week with 15.6 seconds left in regulation (photo by SMU athletics).

Not only does Ivo score goals, he scores big goals. Two of his goals have been game-winners. In SMU’s come-from-behind overtime victory over Creighton at the Bradley Tournament, Ivo scored the tying and winning goals on penalty kicks to lead the then-No. 18 Mustangs past the then-No. 16 Bluejays.

When the teams met again Sunday in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, Ivo scored the most dramatic — and most important — goal of the season. With the clock winding down and the Mustangs trailing, 2-1, Ivo ran on to a loose ball in the offensive third of the field. With two defenders in front of him, he was forced to head toward the sideline. Ivo turned and blasted a shot that deflected off a Creighton defender, curling over the Bluejay goalkeeper Brian Holt and into the upper corner of the goal with 15.6 seconds left.

The game finished in a 2-2 draw, with SMU winning the penalty-kick shootout to advance to the third round of the NCAA Tournament, in which they will host William & Mary at 7 p.m. Sunday.

With his flair for scoring crucial goals, it is no shock that Ivo shared the Conference USA Offensive Player of the Year award (with South Carolina’s Blake Brettschneider). What is surprising is that Ivo was so honored despite starting just four of the Mustangs’ 18 games.

That the versatile, who can play a number of forward and midfield positions for the Ponies, won the award while coming off the bench for most of the season speaks volumes about his versatility and his selflessness, according to head coach Tim McClements.

“I think it’s really a two-fold thing,” McClements said. “One is that he’s back to being fully healthy — that helps anybody. But the other is that it shows his mentaility, how he approaches the game, his willingness to play a number of different spots for us, even if they aren’t always best-suited for him. He can play up front, he can play on the right flank (right midfield), he can score, he can defend. A lot of players talk about being willing to do whatever the team needs to win — he really is.”

Ivo admitted that regardless of his statistics, the mere fact that he has come off the bench in more than three-fourths of the Mustangs’ games made it surprising that he earned a share of C-USA’s top offensive award.

“I never expected it,” he said. “It’s a great award, but it’s a lot more important that we went from 6-8-2 last year to 15-2 this year. The award is like our record — it wasn’t just me winning the award, just like it wasn’t one player who turned our record around.”

That is true — the Mustangs’ turnaround has been a team effort — but that does not belittle the accomplishments of Ivo, whose 2009 season was hampered by a sports hernia.

“It hurt — a lot — but I played through it,” Ivo said. “A lot of us were hurt last year. Leo (defender Leone Cruz) was hurt. (Goalkeeper) Craig (Hill) was hurt.

“I couldn’t shoot, but I had to play through it. I wasn’t going to waste a year.”

Junior midfielder Arthur Ivo is second on the SMU team in scoring this year, with 23 points on nine goals and five assists (photo by SMU athletics).

Statistically, the year was almost a waste for Ivo, who contributed just a goal and two assists. But the fact that he rebounded this season was not a surprise to Ivo’s coach or teammates.

“As far as overall technical ability … he’s the most gifted player I have ever coached,” McClements said. “He can be as good as he wants to be. He has got to continually push it, but he has the passion to be great, and he has the ability to be great, and passion and ability are two factors that they look for at the next level.”

“This team is made up of guys who check their egos at the door, and (Ivo) probably does that more than anyone,” senior midfielder Kekoa Osorio said. “He has as much talent as anyone, but he can do so many things for us that he is willing to come off the bench and do whatever we need — there just aren’t a lot of guys who can do everything he does.”

Osorio said that as generous as Ivo is to come off the bench, the whole team knows that Ivo needs to shoot … a lot.

“His whole technique — shooting technique — is as good as anyone I have ever seen,” Osorio said. “It’s a matter of muscle memory. We work on it every day in practice: touch, step, shot. He does it as well as anyone. He gets his shot off really fast, he has a really hard shot, and he’s an accurate shooter.

“We tell our guys up front to keep shooting. We want them to each take at least three shots per half. With Arthur, that could be three goals in a half.”

That Ivo is shooting and scoring goals for the Mustangs is, in and of itself, somewhat unusual. While many elite America players go overseas to compete internationally, Ivo moved from his hometown of Bragança Paulista, Brazil, to Dallas to play for the Dallas Texans club team, and eventually earn a scholarship to an American university.

“I moved here when I was 13 to play for the Texans, and eventually I was recruited to Oakridge High School (in Arlington),” Ivo said. “My mom (Susana) went to school at Seton Hall, and my dad (Dino) played for the New Jersey Eagles (of the now-defunct American Professional Soccer League).”

Ivo said that part of his improvement this season is a result of his improved health. But he also said that offseason conversations with assistant coach Phil Wolf convinced him to take a more aggressive approach on the field.

“That’s something Coach Wolf and I talked about a lot during the spring, being more aggressive and more physical,” Ivo said. “He talked to me about going at people more, taking more shots, getting PKs (penalty kicks). The more I go at the other team, the more scoring chances we have, whether it’s me or someone else who ends up getting the goal.”

Another performance against William & Mary night that rivals his game-tying, season-saving goal that he scored last week against Creighton is a lot to ask, of course, but if the Ponies are to advance past the Tribe Sunday night, they could use another performance from Ivo like those he has turned in all season long.