SMU midfielder Jeff Harwell slides to keep the ball away from University of Central Arkansas defender Andrew O’Brien in a 5-1 win Oct. 12 at Westcott Field. (Casey Lee)

The SMU men’s soccer team takes the pitch tonight at 7 at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, as it attempts to win its first Conference USA game of the season.

UAB comes into the game with a 4-7-2 overall record and is 1-3-0 in conference. While the Blazers have one more conference win than the Mustangs, they have yet to win a conference match at home.

The Blazers are led on offense by junior forward-midfielder Two-Boys Gumede. No, that is not a typo, Two-Boys is his first name. The South Africa native has three goals and two assists.

On the defensive end for the Blazers, junior goalkeeper Wes Johnson has started nine games this season and has a 1.00 goals against average and 30 saves.

UAB will try to recover from a tough 2-1 overtime loss to Kentucky on Saturday.

The Mustangs have problems of their own, as they have won only one game in their last five matches. The Mustangs also have dropped out of the National Soccer Coaches Association of America top 25 poll for the first time this season.

SMU’s latest loss came Sunday, when it dropped a 1-0 decision to Marshall (2-10-1), despite outplaying the Thundering Herd nearly the whole game.

While the defense for SMU has improved in recent weeks, the Mustangs have had trouble scoring goals-only eight in their last seven games. That number is misleading, as five of those came in a 5-1 win against Central Arkansas on Oct. 12.

The Mustangs hope to get their leading scorer, Paulo da Silva, back for tonight’s game. da Silva leads the team with five goals and two assist in just nine games.

While not there yet, the Mustangs are in danger of playing themselves out of the conference tournament, which will be held at Westcott field. The Mustangs currently sit one game out of the tournament.