SMU men’s soccer tied with Florida International University (FIU) in a non-conference match on Wednesday, Sept. 25. The No. 16 Mustangs (5-1-3, 2-1) men’s soccer team earned its second tie of the season, as SMU played FIU (2-4-2, 0-1) in Washburne Soccer and Track Stadium.
According to head coach Kevin Hudson, the team’s slow start in the match led to the tie game.
“We were poor for the first 25 minutes of the game, probably some of the worst we’ve played,” Hudson said. “We found a little bit of rhythm at the end of the first half.”
FIU started off with a strong offense, putting SMU on defense for the first 20 minutes of the match with two shots on goal. SMU received a foul in the box, and FIU scored on penalty kick. The rest of the first half, FIU continued to have possession of the ball, attacking SMU’s defense.
Later in the first half FIU fouled, giving SMU a chance at a goal with a penalty kick, but missed. Throughout the rest of the first half, FIU kept up a competitive spirit against SMU.
“We started slow and we were able to respond, it was nice for us to be able to come back after starting slow and being able to change the momentum and start dominating,” said senior defense player Jeffrey Koch. “We went down early and fought our way back.”
During the second half, SMU came back with more offensive plays, keeping the game mostly in the center of the field. However, FIU kept a dominant possession over the ball.
SMU junior defensive player Owen Zenick scored with the help of senior forward Bailey Sparks cutting through FIU’s defense.
“They brought a lot of intensity in the beginning of the game, they were very vocal, they demanded a lot and that influenced the beginning of the game,” SMU’s graduate defense player Brock Pope said. “When we communicate, that drives up momentum and passion and I think once we started communicating more we got better throughout the match.”
SMU will play tonight at 7 p.m. against The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) in a non-conference match in Washburne Stadium. The team’s next ACC game will be Oct. 4th at Duke. SMU has already started their ACC season with a 2-1 score.
