VIDEO: men's soccer blanks Boston College in ACC tournament

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VIDEO: SMU Kevin Hudson, defender Cesar Ruvalcaba and midfielder Bailey Sparks met the media after the Mustangs blanked Boston College, 1-0, for the first ACC Championship victory in SMU program history.





Sparks Winner, No. 15 SMU Wins ACC Championships First Round

DALLAS (SMU) — No. 15 SMU Men's Soccer won 1-0 against Boston College to grab their first Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament win at Washburne Stadium, Wednesday.

Bailey Sparks scored the match winner with his seventh goal of the season. Kyran Chambron Pinho served Sparks' goal from a corner kick for his seventh goal contribution from a set-piece this season.

Cesar Ruvalcaba led the Mustangs' back line to earn its seventh clean sheet of the season.

With the win, SMU advanced to the quarterfinal round of the ACC Championships and will host Wake Forest on Sunday.

How It Happened
The first half started with sporadic goal-scoring chances between the two teams.

The Mustangs found the goal net late in the first half as Niv Berkovitz tipped Daniel Escorcia's cross into the goal, but an offside was called in the scoring sequence.

The score remained 0-0 at the half-time break.

Second half started with balanced ball possession. The Mustangs capitalized on their chance and found the lead through Sparks' goal in the 54th minute.

Chambron Pinho crossed a long corner kick that met Sparks in the air. Sparks headed the ball into the near corner for his first open-play goal of the season.

The Eagles seized the momentum in the final 10 minutes of the match, but the Mustangs showed defensive grit to hold on to their lead.

The Mustangs earned a 1-0 win at full-time to advance to the second round of the tournament.

Other Notes
SMU continues its scoring streak to make it 37 consecutive matches with one or more goals.

Sparks scored his seventh goal of the season, his first goal from open play.

Chambron Pinho has seven goal contributions from a set-piece this season. He has three assists and four goals from a set-piece, three of the goals were from a direct free kick and one from a corner.

The Mustangs outshot Boston College 10 to five.

In a night of firsts, SMU grabbed first ACC Championships win and their first win over Boston College.

Up Next
No. 4 seed SMU will host no. 5 seed Wake Forest for its quarterfinal ACC Championships match at 3 p.m. CT on Sunday.