No Place like home

The Mustangs continued to roll through Missouri Valley Conference play with a commanding 5-1 victory over visiting Tulsa Saturday night. The win improved the Mustangs’ record to 13-1-2 on the season and 6-0-1 in MVC play. The match was the final regular season contest at Westcott Field this season. Head coach Schellas Hyndman understands that the Mustangs play a little differently when they are on the road.

“It is a little bit different when we are home instead of on the road,” Hyndman said. “On the road we have to take one game at a time.”

The feeling of home field advantage is something the Mustangs can always carry with them when playing at Westcott Field, where the Ponies have not lost since 1999. The players know every curve, every bounce, every roll. On Saturday night the Ponies showed just how comfortable they could get at home against a good team.

The pace of play was quick and physical. Possession of the ball was constantly traded around the middle of the field. The Mustangs were the first team to find their rhythm. The offense started to string passes together, the runs became attacks on the sideline and the shots began to develop into scoring threats.

In the 14th minute J.D. Johnston darted down the right sideline, took on one defender and sent in a bending cross just outside the six-yard box. The ball deflected off a Tulsa defender and Colin Clark punched in the rebound giving the Ponies a 1-0. Less than a minute after the Mustangs struck a blow to the Tulsa defense the Golden Hurricane sent a blow right back, in the form of an elbow to Mustang midfielder Kevin Hudson’s head. Hudson left the game and did not return for the remainder of the evening.

Coach Hyndman was pleased with how the Mustangs played after Hudson was taken out.

“David Chun came into the center and played the role we asked him to,” Hyndman said. “At the same time we lost a little bit of the ability to win balls in the air and protect the deep throw.”

The Ponies offense shook off the loss of the central play maker and picked up right where Clark left off three minutes prior. In the 17th minute senior captain Diego Walsh tallied his 12th goal of the season. The Mustangs sent a corner kick into the box and the shot on goal was deflected to Walsh, who tapped in the deflection giving the Ponies a 2-0 lead. Just five minutes later Johnston once again assisted in the Mustangs’ effort on goal. Johnston set up a free kick about 25 yards outside of the goal and drove a low hooking cross to the back post. Kevin Friedland created space between himself and his defender and hit the incoming ball back across the goal mouth to the inside of the far post. The goal gave the Mustangs a 3-0 lead heading into the half.

In the second half the night began to get colder and Walsh started to heat up. As the temperature began to drop at Westcott Field Walsh’s offensive productiveness began to rise. In a span of three minutes Walsh scored his 13th and 14th goals of the season and recorded his second hat trick this year. In the 63rd minute Walsh scrapped around the box and tapped in a lose ball after the Golden Hurricane defense failed to clear. In the 65th minute Walsh picked up a ball headed by Friedland at the top of the 18-yard box. He turned his defender and hit a blast that ripped past the Tulsa goalkeeper and just under the top crossbar. The electrifying performance by Walsh gave the Mustangs a solid 5-0 lead.

Hyndman believes the Mustang offense is starting to come together.

“Of course it always helps to have a player like Diego out there,” Hyndman said. “All of the players are starting to understand their roles, and as a unit they are really starting to gel.”

Tulsa spoiled SMU’s bid for a shutout in the 67th minute when Bryan Rudd scored Tulsa’s first and only goal of the match. With the victory SMU heads into their final weekend of MVC play leading the conference. On Friday the Mustangs travel to play Drake and then on Sunday the Ponies finish the MVC regular season with a trip to Creighton.

No Place like home

No Place like home