The 2006 NCAA tournament descends on the SMU campus tonight as the Mustangs prepare to face the University of California at Santa Barbara. With a 17-1-4 record and a C-USA championship title, SMU received a first-round bye and home-field advantage for the opening rounds of the national tournament. UCSB (13-7-0) advanced to the second round after defeating San Diego State 2-1 on Saturday.
The Mustangs are making their 13th consecutive tournament appearance and 22nd under Head Coach Schellas Hyndman. Last year, SMU entered the tournament without a ranking, but managed to make it to the College Cup in North Carolina.
SMU has a lot of things playing into its favor this year. The Mustangs have outscored their opponents 56-11 this season and have a total of 14 shutout victories. SMU also boasts a number of standout players, including sophomore Bruno Guarda, who was named C-USA Player of the Year, and senior Jay Needham who was honored with the C-USA Defensive Player of the Year award. Both players are also part of the 2006 Missouri Athletic Club’s Hermann trophy semifinal list.
Needham and Guarda demonstrate SMU’s strength as an experienced team with a lot of young talent.
“The players not only understand their roles, which is important, but even more important they’ve accepted their roles. We play very much as a collective group. We have the qualities of leadership from the group that went to the College Cup last year and we have the experience, again from people that went to College Cup and we have youth,” said Hyndman. “We have some nice young players that have come in and added to our team. You put that combination together and you are going to find a successful team.”
Hyndman has played an integral role in his team’s accomplishments. He had his 450th win this season with the Mustangs and was named the C-USA Coach of the Year for keeping his team atop the national rankings for the majority of the season.
Senior Chase Wileman attributes his own personal success, as well as the success of the team, to Hyndman’s coaching.
“Coach gives us all the confidence we need to step out on the field. We’re all confident and we know what we have to do,” Wileman said.
Wileman is doing what he needs to do. He leads the team in points with 28, eight goals and 12 assists this season. Right behind him is junior Adrian Chevannes with 18 points from six goals and six assists. Chevannes became a starter after sophomore Scott Geppert suffered a season-ending knee injury. According to Hyndman, Chevannes “has done extremely well and has become a fixture on the front line” for the Mustangs.
SMU’s ability to draw from the bench as well as rely on its starters will be a key component to a victory over the Gauchos tonight.
Like the Mustangs, UCSB has posted a high percentage of shutouts in the 2006 season. After leaving their opponents scoreless in 11 games, the Gauchos are ranked 8th in the nation for shutouts.
UCSB is home to the Big West Defender of the Year, Andy Iro. The senior is also on the MAC Hermann trophy semifinal list and was a preseason All-American. Iro contributed to the Gaucho defense that allowed only 16 goals this season, as well as stepping up offensively to put in the game-winning goal against San Diego State.
Also on the defense for the Gauchos is the Big West Co-Goalkeeper of the Year, Kyle Reynish. The senior led the Big West conference with a record of 11 shutouts in 19 contests.
Up front, UCSB has freshman Bongomin Otii, a six-foot tall forward from Denver. Otii led the Gauchos with six goals and was fifth overall in Big West conference scoring.
This will only be the second meeting between UCSB and SMU. When the two teams met in Dallas in 1996 for the SMU Puma Classic, the Gauchos walked away with a 1-0 victory.
Things are much different at SMU than they were in 1996. Specifically, improvements made to Westcott Field this year have contributed to the Mustangs’ stellar season.
“The facility getting a bigger field that we can host playoff games in [is different]. It’s a nice field to play on this late in the season and to train on. It helps us play better soccer,” Hyndman said.
The renovations at Westcott helped SMU host games for the 2006 tournament. As a top-four seed, the Mustangs earned home-field advantage for the beginning of the tournament.
Defensive-mid Ben Shuleva considers playing at home to be a big benefit to the team. The junior transfer played in both the 2004 and 2005 NCAA tournaments with his previous team at St. John’s University.
“I haven’t had home field advantage before and that’s huge; we’ve been doing very well at home this year. We have a great field, great facility, home crowd and the weather’s good. Those are all things that play into our favor,” Shuleva said. The Mustangs have not lost a game at home in 2006.
The Mustangs can be expected to come out and play hard tonight. Wileman will put all of his gear on his left foot first, Guarda will call his girlfriend to wish him luck and the rest of the team will do its before-game rituals in order to prepare them for what could be the beginning of a long tournament run.
If SMU defeats the Gauchos tonight, they move on to round 16 and play the winners of the Old Dominion, North Carolina match-up this Sunday at Westcott.
Kick off for the Mustangs’ first game of the NCAA tournament is scheduled for 7 tonight. Admission is $5 for students and faculty with valid SMU ID.
