SMU men’s soccer won the American Athletic Conference regular season championship on Halloween night, defeating Temple and finishing the season with a 12-2-3 record.
John Lujano, Jacob Speed, Idi Camara, and Danny McQuaid were all honored for senior night prior to the game and played their last regular season home match of their SMU careers.
After a scoreless first half, junior Stanton Garcia and redshirt junior Brenden Lee each scored, giving the Mustangs the 2-0 victory.
“We knew our goal was to win tonight and to be champions,” said Garcia, the American Athletic Conference Player of the Week. “We had to put our foot back on the gas and compose ourselves to come together in the second half. We did it.”
Goalkeeper Michael Nelson had a strong game once again, recording his seventh shutout of the season. He was named American Athletic Conference Goalkeeper of the Week.
This is SMU’s first conference title under first year Head Coach Kevin Hudson, though the Mustangs won four titles when Hudson played for the team from 2000-2003.
“It feels great to be the champions,” Hudson said. “It’s the accumulation of hard work but it’s not the end. I told the boys that this is one peak in the giant mountain we’re trying to climb. Winning the conference isn’t the end of the season and our goal is greater than that. It’s one of the things we put on the board at the beginning of the year and we can cross that off.”
No. 9 SMU will be the No. 1 seed in the AAC conference tournament after racking up a 7-0-1 conference record and will host the eigth-seeded Cincinnati Bearcats in the quarterfinal on Nov. 7 at 7 p.m. CT at Westcott Field. The remainder of the tournament will be held in Tampa, Florida beginning on Nov. 13.
#PonyUp pic.twitter.com/u0aNmcVJ9Z
— SMU Men's Soccer (@SMUSoccerM) November 1, 2015
Congratulations to @SMUSoccerM, 2015 American Men's Soccer Regular Season Champions! pic.twitter.com/E0nCH839EM
— American Men's Soccer (@American_MSoc) November 1, 2015
. @SMUSoccerM's Michael Nelson is the American Goalkeeper of the Week pic.twitter.com/U6a5oX8hKz
— American Men's Soccer (@American_MSoc) November 2, 2015
Final American weekly honors…Congrats to @SMUSoccerM's Stanton Garcia, Offensive Player of the Week pic.twitter.com/jAnjFwxJtv
— American Men's Soccer (@American_MSoc) November 2, 2015
