Break out the dancing shoes - SMU to NCAAs

[Pony4Life]

YES! YES! YES!

SMU and Bradley played to a 1-1 tie, but SMU wins the Missouri Valley Conference tournament title on penalty kicks.

Absolutely brilliant game, and the best player of the game was Bradley GK Chris Dunsheath - he was amazing, and he's only a sophomore. After Bradley went ahead in the first half on a great goal on a topspin volley that curled up and over GK Erick Foss, the Ponies tied it with about 10 minutes left on a volley goal of their own by Ryan Latham. Both great goals.

There were very few chances in OT for either team, although SMU mustered a flurry of shots in the last minute, only to be foiled by Dunsheath. In the PKs, Bradley shot first (and scored), after which SMU matched on a goal by David Chun. Bradley scored again and took a 1-goal lead when Dunsheath swallowed the SMU shot by Mynor Gonzalez. After each team scored once more, SMU pulled even when Bradley missed twice. The Ponies could have won on the final shot of the 5-shot opening round, but Dunsheath again came up huge, stopping a shot by Jay Needham. Moving to sudden death PKs, Bradley missed its third straight shot, and SMU senior Kevin Hudson buried his shot to send SMU to the NCAA Tournament.

Bradley really deserves full credit here - they played extremely well. Hopefully the NCAA committee will see fit to extend an at-large bid to the Braves - they fully deserve to make it.

Coach Hyndman has to be breathing easier, having seen his teams' seasons end so many times in years past on PK shootouts. Congratulations Coach!

Good luck in the NCAAs - Go MUSTANGS!

[SmooPower]

Sweet!

[SMUguy]

Terrific game - congratulations Ponies!

Not to get caught up in details, but during the broadcast, I think there was a graphic that said there were two assists on Latham's goal. Replays showed Latham got the ball off a Bradley defender, so it should be an unassisted goal.

But who cares? Ponies are going to the tournament!

[ClassOf81]

Was it just me, or did Erick Foss look a little lost out there? The announcers talked about his difficulty distributing the ball after he shanked a few out of bounds, and how the defenders were hesitant to play the ball back to him after that. He needs to get that straightened out before the NCAAs. Or is T.J. Tomasso going to play?

Duke Hashimoto was terrific - I think he created more chances today than he has all year. Jay Needham was nothing short of brilliant, and Kevin Hudson was excellent. But the player of the game was David Chun - he was absolutely everywhere, and made an impression on both ends of the field, and more importantly, he controlled the middle of the field in transition. He was amazing today.

[AdriaFan3]

Great game! I got to watch it on FSN. It was awesome. I'm so happy for them, its great since the women lost and now the men have a chance! yay!

[Cheesesteak]

Congratulations, Ponies.

Good luck in the NCAA's.

[Dark Horse]

Great game, fellas! Knock 'em dead in the NCAAs!

[FloridaMustang]

What a GREAT story this season has become. WTG Schellas and congrats to all the guys.

Have the brackets been announced yet?

[EastStang]

Brackets just announced. We play Santa Clara out there (who beat us 3-1 earlier this year, and if we win, we play Loyala-Marymount (who we beat earlier this year). Wierd bracket.

[Mustangs35SMU]

Whoooooooo!!!!!

Do any of ya know if there is gonna be a replay of the game? didnt get to catch it

[PonyFan]

I hear the SMU radio guy is headed to California, so we can listen on the internet. Game's Friday night.