The SMU men’s soccer team advanced to the elite eight in the NCAA tournament with a 3-—0 upset over fifth—seed UCLA last Tuesday in Los Angeles and a 3—1 victory over UNC—Greensboro in North Carolina Sunday evening.
Freshman forward Paolo da Silva had a goal and two assists against UCLA (12—5—3) and scored the first goal against UNC—Greensboro (16—6—1), while goalkeeper Matt Wideman stole the show against UNC-Greensboro with a pair of spectacular saves.
The Mustangs (13—5—3) will face the No. 4 North Carolina Tar Heels (17—4—3) at 1 p.m. (CST) Friday in Chapel Hill, N.C., as they attempt to advance to the men’s College Cup for the first time since 2000, when they fell to Connecticut 2—0 in the semifinals.
“I was a little more hyped up for this one as we get deeper in the bracket,” SMU coach Schellas Hyndman said in a release. “This team has been through a lot. We had a tough September, and we start four freshmen. They are a little more seasoned now and can play in this type of atmosphere.”
Against UCLA, senior midfielder Kellan Zindel opened the scoring in the 14th minute when da Silva played a through ball into the box that Zindel put past Bruins goalkeeper Eric Reed. Da Silva then sprung senior forward Duke Hashimoto on a breakaway in the 53rd minute to double the Mustangs’ lead.
The freshman then put the game away in the 69th minute on a seven—yard shot that beat Reed. Hashimoto and sophomore midfielder Scott Corbin assisted on the goal.
The Bruins out—shot the Mustangs 17—8 for the game, but they only forced Wideman to make three saves, while SMU put five of its shots on goal.
UCLA was playing without sophomore defender Marvell Wynne, who was in street clothes in the crowd after suffering a foot injury several weeks ago. Wynne was a key part of the defense that had allowed less than half—a—goal per game.
While Tuesday’s game was played in front of 1,705 fans in clear and cool weather, cold and wet weather limited attendance to 530 in Greensboro, N.C. on Sunday.
But the results were much the same, as SMU jumped out to a 1—0 lead in the 11th minute when da Silva bounced a slow shot off the post from 22 yards out to beat Spartans goalkeeper Jay Benfield. Zindel had the assist.
In the 34th minute, the Mustangs doubled the lead when freshman defender Daniel Lopez stole the ball and put Hashimoto in for a 14—yard strike.
The Spartans cut the lead in half three minutes later when Thomas Campbell headed the ball past Wideman off of a Randi Patterson cross. But Wideman was a wall for the rest of the game, making what the Greensboro coach called the best save he’d seen all year in the 72nd minute when he punched a Patterson shot off the crossbar after it deflected off an SMU defender.
Two minutes later, the Mustangs sealed the victory with a Spartans own goal to go up 3—1, and Patterson received a direct red card in the 84th minute to put SMU a man up for the rest of the game.
