By Sam Erwin

The SMU men’s soccer team will begin its quest to win the Conference USA tournament at 8 p.m. Wednesday night against South Carolina.

SMU played South Carolina to a 1-1 draw in double overtime Oct. 8 at Westcott field Oct. 8 at Westcott field. The game proved to be very controversial as South Carolina got its first goal when an SMU defensive player was down with an injury. Then, less than a minute later, SMU was awarded a penalty kick after freshman Arthur Ivo was taken down near the South Carolina goal. Senior Manuel Mariel converted the PK to tie the score, 1-1.

Despite missing five games this season, Paulo da Silva was the Mustangs' leading scorer (photo by Travis Johnston).

The Mustangs come into this tournament with some momentum, having won three of their last four games, their only loss coming Nov. 2 to Kentucky by a score of 2-1. Early this season, though, SMU looked like a national powerhouse, being ranked as high as No. 2 in the nation by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America.

“I think that what has happened is unfortunately we have gone through a rash of injuries and two things have happened,” head coach Tim McClements said. “Number one, we are settling into the fact that we have some players that are now in our lineup that need to be the solution and play better, and they have been. The other thing is that our younger players have been playing better. So yeah, we have been able to pick up some momentum.”

Injuries have plagued the Ponies this year, though, as they lost leading scorer Paulo da Silva for five games (including the game against South Carolina), along with senior defender Ryan Mirsky for the last two games of the regular season and perhaps the conference tournament. SMU has also had players such as sophomore midfielder Kekoa Osorio miss games due to illness.

In SMU’s 2-1 victory at Florida International this past Friday in the regular-season finale, the Ponies suffered a major loss as senior defender and team captain Daniel Lopez received a red card, meaning Lopez will be forced to sit out the first game of the conference tournament.

Overall, the Mustangs have a record of 10-5-2 this year, but are just 3-4-1 in conference games. da Silva’s injury also must be taken into consideration, as the team’s record is much different with him in the lineup, compared to when he was hobbled and forced into the role of high-scoring spectator. In games in which da Silva played, in the Ponies are 8-3-2, but just 2-2-1 with him sidelined.

da Silva talked about how frustrating it has been to miss time while injured.

“It is very frustrating,” he said. “The team was playing very well. It’s frustrating because I can not help my team. I have not been able to help them the past two years, and I thought I would be able to this year. Its just sad and very frustrating.”

With a conference tournament berth locked up this past week, the decision was made to not take da Silva on the road to FIU, a strategic move da Silva said could help the Ponies reach their goal of playing beyond the C-USA tournament.

“It helped me get a lot better and ready for the tournament, which is very important to us,” he said. “We must win [the conference tournament] to get a chance to play in the NCAA tournament.”

McClements said he didn’t know if da Silva would have been able to play last week if a conference tournament bid was on the line.

“I don’t know,” McClements said. “It was better for him not to play. I think it is just one of those things that takes time so I don’t know the answer to that. There would have been a chance that we would have had to ask him to play injured, and I don’t think I would have been willing to do that. It would have been a decision that would not of been made by me but by the medical staff.”

When looking at the season statistics one stat stands out in particular. As a team the Ponies had about 11 percent of all shots end up in the goal. In conference games, though, that number drops to around 7 percent finding the back of the net. da Silva, though, has had much more success with his shots than the rest of the team, converting about 28 percent of his shots in the 11 games in which he has played.

The only other player on the team with a similar shooting percentage is freshman midfielder Diogo de Almeida, who has made 31 percent of his shots, a number that is a bit misleading, as de Almeida has taken almost 10 fewer shots than da Silva.

Junior goalkeeper Craig Hill has six shutouts this season (photo by SMU athletics).

One player in particular to watch for is midfielder Kekoa Osorio. While Osorio has just one assist on the season, he plays an important role passing the ball through the midfield and creating chances for the forwards. Put simply, SMU will attack the opposing team through the midfield whether switching the ball from one side to the other or playing the ball forward. To make this possible a team needs a dependable passer who can keep possession and make the right decisions about where to play in a split second, a role Osorio fills very well for the Ponies.

“Just keep the ball moving and keep the rhythm and tempo of the game up,” Osorio said when asked about his role in the SMU offense. “Dictate the pace of the game, control the middle and get everyone involved.”

McClements raves about Osorio, emphasizing that the sophomore’s value to the team far exceeds what appears on a stat sheet.

“I think he is one of our most consistent players, without a doubt, and when it is all said and done, I think he is one of our best players,” McClements said. “I think the world of him.”

While most of the attention is put on the offense and scoring goals, the Mustangs feature one of the best goalkeepers in the conference in junior Craig Hill. This year Hill is averaging .92 goals allowed per games and has saved close to 80 percent of opponents’ shots on goal.

One stat that stands out about Hill is the number of goals he gives up in a game. Only three times this year has a team scored more than one goal in an games against. Tulsa scored four, while Memphis and Kentucky each scored two. Every other team though has been held to one goal or fewer, including six teams against which Hill recorded a shutout.

Hill said that his letdown against Tulsa was not a result of any unusual tactics by the Golden Hurricane.

“Just a loss of focus — (I) wasn’t mentally prepared for the game,” he said. “I don’t think Tulsa had any influence on me at all.”

The tournament gets started this Wednesday and the Mustangs first game is scheduled for 8 p.m. at Westcott field. If they win Wednesday night, the Mustangs will advance to Friday’s C-USA semifinal.