PonyFans.com VIDEO: Hudson, Garcia after SMU wins AAC title

[PonyPride]

[PonyPride]

From SMUMustangs.com:

No. 9 Mustangs Defeat Temple, 2-0; Clinch American Athletic Conference Championship
SMU Hosts AAC Tournament Quarterfinals Nov. 7

Oct. 31, 2015

DALLAS (SMU) – The No. 9 SMU men’s soccer team scored a pair of second half goals to earn a 2-0 Senior Night victory over American Athletic Conference opponent Temple on Saturday evening at Westcott Field. The Mustangs clinched the AAC regular-season championship and will host the quarterfinals of the conference tournament as the No. 1 seed on Nov. 7. Temple finishes the season at 2-6 in American play and will be the No. 6 seed.

SMU’s (12-2-3) goals came from Stanton Garcia and Brenden Lee in the second half of the match. After a Mauro Cichero shot deflected off Temple’s goalkeeper, a waiting Garcia was there to punch it in from four yards out. The goal was Garcia’s fifth of the season and the assist was Cichero’s seventh.

In the 73rd minute, Lee scored the insurance goal after he got his head on a deflected shot attempted by Garcia. The goal was Lee’s fourth of the season and the assist was Garcia’s first.

“We didn’t start out hot and we realized that,” Garcia said. “We knew what we wanted and we knew our goal was to win tonight and to be champions. We had to put our foot back on the gas and compose ourselves to come together in the second half.”

Goalkeeper Michael Nelson tallied five saves and recorded his seventh shutout of the season, while the Owls’ goalkeeper Alex Cagle recorded one save of the four shots on goal he faced.

SMU finished the regular season 9-1-1 on the Hilltop, which included a 4-0 conference mark. Seniors John Lujano, Jacob Speed, Idi Camaraand Danny McQuaid were honored prior to their last regular season match at home.

“It feels great to be the champions,” Head Coach Kevin Hudson said. “It’s the accumulation of hard work but it’s not the end. I told the boys that this is one peak in the giant mountain we’re trying to climb. Winning the conference isn’t the end of the season and our goal is greater than that. It’s one of the things we put on the board at the beginning of the year and we can cross that off.”

The Mustangs host the No. 8 seed, Cincinnati, in the quarterfinals of The American tournament on Saturday, Nov. 7, at 7 p.m. CT. Live stats and video will be available on SMUMustangs.com. SMU defeated the Bearcats, 1-0, in double overtime on Oct. 17 in Cincinnati.

[DanFreibergerForHeisman]

Great interviews. Hudson is awesome. We are so fortunate to have him as our head coach.