SMU vs UAB

[gk00dad]

"And a freshman shall lead them"...Diogo de Almeida scores two late goals in the second half and Craig Hill finds his shutout mojo to lead SMU to a 2-0 win over UAB. While it's still no reason to get overly excited, at least the prospects of being ball boys at their own tournament are less than they were yesterday.

[DallasDiehard]

Well said - with a good dose of reality.

But forget the past games - maybe this is the start of a hot streak. Congrats to Diogo de Almeida, Craig Hill and the rest of the Mustangs. A conference win on the road is always a huge confidence boost.

WELL DONE!

[jkflamebo]

uab not very strong this year, but we'll take the W. right now's the time for the team to start peaking heading into the conf tourney and run the table

[ClassOf81]

From the SMU website:

Men's Soccer Picks Up Huge C-USA Win At UAB

de Almeida scores twice, Hill pitches shutout

Oct. 22, 2008

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (SMU) - Freshman midfielder Diogo de Almeida scored a pair of goals 65 seconds apart, and junior goalkeeper Craig Hill notched his fifth shutout of the season to lead the SMU men's soccer team to a 2-0 win Wednesday night over Conference USA rival UAB in Birmingham.

The teams battled through 83 scoreless minutes before de Almeida broke the game open. de Almeida took advantage of a mistake by the UAB defense as the ball rolled through the mouth of the goal after a corner kick, pouncing on the ball and burying a shot from point-blank range, with the assist going to fellow freshman Payton Hickey in the 84th minute.

Then, just over a minute later, de Almeida put the game out of reach. With UAB pressing everyone forward in pursuit of an equalizing goal, de Almeida noticed UAB netminder Wes Johnson creeping forward out of the goal and lifted a 45-yard bomb that sailed over Johnson into the net.

The goals were de Almeida's fourth and fifth of the season, tying him with senior forward Paulo da Silva for the team goals lead. Hit 10 points this season trail on da Silva's 12 for the overall team scoring lead.

On the other end, UAB fired nine shots, including five on goal. Hill saved all five to earn the shutout.

With three games left in the regular season, the Mustangs (8-4-2 overall and 1-3-1 in C-USA games) now head to Orlando to face UCF Saturday night, before returning home to face Kentucky in the regular-season finale at 12 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 2. The Conference USA men's soccer tournament will be held at SMU's Westcott Field Nov. 12-16.

For ticket information, log on to SMUMustangs.com or call 214-SMU-GAME.