SMU forward Dane Saintus drives past a UCF defender towards the goal last Saturday at Westcott Field. Saintus scored one goal in the Mustangs’ 3-3 tie against the Knights. CASEY LEE/The Daily Campus

The SMU Mustangs suffered a surprising loss this weekend in their final game this season. The SMU men’s soccer team played against Florida International University during their homecoming and Senior Night match on Westcott Field Saturday night.

In past seasons, the Mustangs have won 13 out of 14 games against IFU, and have had a more successful Conference USA season. Despite the initial upper hand, the Mustangs lost with a score of 2-1.

SMU started out strong with a leading pass from Payton Hickey that resulted in a goal by Richard Olivia during the fifth minute of play. Hickey furthered his lead in most assists this season within C-USA. This was Hickey’s ninth goal of the season and also Olivia’s first goal of the season.

Olivia’s goal went unanswered until FIU player Sebastian Frings scored with an assist from teammate Will Thompson in the 31st minute. The game remained scoreless for the next 37 minutes, until FIU forward Diego Tamburus scored the game-winning goal.

Like many matches this season, the Mustangs outshot their opponent.

“We have the shots, we just need to find the back of the net” head coach Tim McClements said earlier this season. SMU had 26 shots on goal while FIU had only 11. Each team had four corner kicks.

The outcome of this weekend’s game did not determine their eligibility to partake in the postseason tournament after their loss against Kentucky on Nov. 4. The Mustang’s season is now over, and the team said goodbye to several key players on the team.

Both team captains will graduate from SMU this year: forward Paulo da Silva and defender Esteban Mariel. Both men received red shirts during the 2007 season. Mariel transferred to SMU after spending his freshman year at UMBC.

During his career at SMU, da Silva scored 23 goals and had 13 assists. This is also the final season for Dane Saintus and Richard Olivia.

Saintus has earned a total of 14 goals for SMU and 15 assists. Olivia, who had a medical redshirt after injury in the 2008 season, has scored 13 goals and five assists during his career as a Mustang.