Men's Soccer Beats Bradley, Wins Bradley Tournament

[PonyPride]

From SMUMustangs.com:

Men's Soccer Beats Bradley, Wins Bradley Tournament
Castillo And Derschang Score For SMU

Sept. 19, 2010

PEORIA, Ill. (SMU) - The No. 18 SMU men's soccer team defeated Bradley 3-1 in a come-from-behind win Sunday afternoon to close out the Bradley Tournament. Freshmen Juan Castillo and Robbie Derschang scored for the Mustangs. SMU is now 7-0-0 on the season.

"The guys were outstanding," said head coach Tim McClements. "Bradley's a very difficult team to play; they work very hard, are tough to tackle and play the ball direct. Bradley lives off set pieces, and they're very good at them. Our defenders had their hands full all day."

Castillo got the Mustangs on the board in the 40th minute when he shot the ball far post into an open net. Ian Kalis crossed the ball in to Josue Soto who laid the ball off for Castillo to finish. The goal is Castillo's team-leading sixth goal of the season. He has now scored in five consecutive games for the Mustangs.

"He's been unbelievable," McClements said of Castillo. "He's been exactly what we've needed. He's a good finisher, works [deleted] defense and is a great addition to the team."

Derschang netted the game-winner in 84th minute when he fired a ball from the left side just inside the box on a give-and-go with Castillo. Less than three minutes later, Derschang added insurance for SMU when he knocked in the ball on a feed from T.J. Nelson. Derschang now has three goals on the year.

"It was great to win the tournament," said McClements. "We played two really good, quality opponents. We fell behind in both games, but we kept our cool, the goals came and the quality of our team showed through."

2010 Hotels at Grand Prairie Classic
1. SMU Mustangs (2-0-0)
2. Creighton Bluejays (1-1-0)
3. Dartmouth Big Green (1-1-0)
4. Bradley Braves (0-2-0)

All-Tournament Team
Tournament MVP - Juan Castillo, forward, SMU
Josue Soto, midfielder, SMU
Kekoa Osorio, midfielder, SMU
Robbie Derschang, midfielder, SMU
Ethan Finlay, forward, Creighton
Jose Gomez, midfielder, Creighton
Greg Jordan, midfielder, Creighton
Bryan Guidicelli, defender, Dartmouth
Colin Skelly, midfielder, Dartmouth
Tommy Fritze, defender, Bradley
Aodhan Quinn, midfielder, Bradley

SMU heads to Birmingham, Ala., Sept. 24-26 for the UAB Tournament. The Mustangs will open conference play Friday, Sept. 24 against UAB. SMU faces Jacksonville Sunday, Sept. 26.

[DanFreibergerForHeisman]

AWESOME with a capital A.

What a great tournament for the Mustangs. After "losing" two tournaments to Tulsa on goal differential it's great to go win a tournament on the road with ranked opposition.

Just awesome.

[mustangxc]

Very nice to see this resurgence!!! Keep it up.

[EastStang]

This is what we needed some confidence builders early and now some quality wins. It sounds like Castillo is the real deal and we needed a goal scorer. Hopefully, this will be a team that grows game by game.

[RedRiverPony]

It's about time people stand up and notice these guys. Hope they're at home next time I'm in town.

Go PONIES!

[smusoccer]

Well Done! Lets continue to roll!

[ponyscott]

Nice job to the Mens team!!!! They should move into the Top 10 this week.