No. 8 Men's Soccer Dumps No. 20 South Carolina, 3-1

[PonyPride]

From SMUMustangs.com:

Men's Soccer Knocks Off South Carolina
Ivo, Soto and Barnes score for the Mustangs

Oct. 6, 2010

DALLAS (SMU) - The No. 8 SMU men's soccer team defeated No. 20 South Carolina 3-1 for a come-from-behind win Wednesday night at Westcott field. Arthur Ivo, Josue Soto and Zach Barnes all scored for the Mustangs. With the win, SMU moves to 10-1-0 on the season and is now 2-1-0 in Conference USA action.

"It was a tough one," said head coach Tim McClements. "Great win. Any win in the conference, we'll take it. It's disappointing that we played as well as we did in the first half and gave up a goal at the end. We have a lot of steel in this team and a lot of quality. They were able to pull themselves out. Arthur Ivo had a great goal, and that kind of opened the game up. But you don't want to go down to a team like South Carolina, or any conference team for that matter, because it's really difficult to break them down. Hats off to the guys; they rolled up their sleeves and got it done."

Ivo got the Mustangs on the board with a goal in the 49th minute to tie the game at one. Senior midfielder Kekoa Osorio fed the ball to Ivo who fired a bullet from 25 yards out into the far upper corner. The goal was Ivo's fifth of the season. The assist was Osorio's first point of the year.

In the 76th minute, Ivo was taken down in the box, drawing a penalty kick for SMU. Soto stepped in and capitalized on the opportunity, netting his fourth goal of the season and second game-winner. Soto is now 2-for-2 on penalty kicks, while the team is has now converted all four chances on the season.

Barnes added insurance for the Mustangs with his goal in the final minute of play. Freshman forward Juan Castillo led a ball for Barnes who ran onto it at midfield. Barnes took off on a breakaway, slowing down to make a move around the goalie before scoring. The tally was his third of the season. The assist was Castillo's third helper of the year and team-leading 17th point.

Goalkeeper Craig Hill made five saves on the night to earn the victory.

South Carolina's goal came in the 41st minute of play. Goalkeeper Jimmy Maurer punted the ball out of the back and Blake Brettschneider ran on to it, sending the ball off the far post and in.

SMU hosts conference rival Marshall Sunday, Oct. 10 at 7 p.m. at Westcott. The teams are tied 2-2-0 in the all-time series between the two schools. Purchase your tickets online at smumustangs.com or call 214-SMU-GAME.

[Corso]

Terrific performance by the guys last night — absolutely GREAT game. Some thoughts:

• Ivo's goal was unbelievable. The school website said he hit it from 25 yards .... I thought it was farther than that. He shot from the left side and crushed it, bending the ball over the SC goalie into the top right corner. It was one of the best shots I have seen in years.
• The Mustangs have better players than in years past (the freshman class is really good), but more than that, they're a better TEAM. Coaches and players talk about not quitting when they get behind, and the guys didn't change a thing when they got behind last night. They didn't press, they didn't clench up, they didn't force things — they just went about their business. Very poised group.
• The defense is a hell of a lot better than last year. Of course it helps to have Leone Cruz healthy again. Adam Still is rock-solid. Ian Kalis looks much better than last year. And Diogo deAlmeida has been a really pleasant surprise.

Beat Marshall!

[pony717]

It's dangerous to look ahead, but what a match that will be against Tulsa Wednesday of next week!

[smusoccer]

I was pleasantly surprised to see how well we played last night. We played with confidence and skill, which reminds me of the mustangs of old. Keep it up!

[mathman]

I was pleasantly surprised to see how well we played last night. We played with confidence and skill, which reminds me of the mustangs of old. Keep it up!

Just curious. Why did it surprise you? They are ranked 8th in the nation and have only lost one game.
Keep it up guys. Great job.

[smusoccer]

Just curious. Why did it surprise you? They are ranked 8th in the nation and have only lost one game.

This was the first time I have seen them play this season. The quality of play was tremendous amounts better than the last two seasons. It looks like the coaches have really tinkered with the line up by going with skillful players in the back instead of the big bruisers. I think this has allowed them to keep better possession of the ball and play with confidence out of the back. The last two seasons it looked like all they were trying to do was play long ball, be physical, and play with high energy. That style of play has never been our MO, so it looks like we have gone back to being a skillful team that likes to play possession.

As for them being ranked 8th, we have played two ranked teams this season Creighton who we beat in overtime and South Carolina who we beat 3-1 but could argue it was closer to 2-1 because we scored in the last 30 seconds when they were pushing everyone forward. We haven’t really blown anyone out either. If you look at the schedule SIUE, Western Illinois, and Jacksonville were all close games, but have you ever heard of their soccer programs being good? To be honest, I don’t even know what SIUE stands for. Also, once we break into the top 5 in the nation we go to UCF and lose. By no means I am saying that we are undeserving of our rankings but our schedule hasn’t been that tough so I am just trying to keep things in perspective. Now I am just babbling but with all that being said, we are still 10-1 and I hope we continue to dominate.

Go Mustangs!

[EastStang]

I think we've proved that we are an above average team, but we can also lose to anyone. UCF was, I hope, a wake-up call that we cannot look past anyone on our schedule and that overconfidence is a killer. So, we beat South Carolina, now we need to show that we can beat Marshall (who has seemed to have our number). Our touch passing and scoring is what we almost patented and I'm glad we are going back to that. Unfortunately, if we get to the NCAA's the bruising, fouling style, seems to be what wins championships. I witnessed that in the final four game against Maryland when they just out-muscled us to every ball and wore us down physically in the second half. I suspect, we'll get a good dose of dealing with fouls and 11 in the box from here on out. So, we'll get to grow and develop. Of course if we can keep scoring from 25 yards out, 11 in the box does nothing.

[DallasDiehard]

You're right. The Marshall game Sunday is going to be huge. They're a good team, and we owe them.

[redpony]

Beat Marshall- we need to win every conference game to get to the 'big dance' Keep up the good work.

GO PONIES!!!