The SMU men’s soccer team took second place in the inaugural SMU Radisson Hotel Men’s Soccer Classic at Westcott Field after they defeated the University of West Virginia Mountaineers 1-0 Friday evening and the University of South Florida Bulls 2-1 in overtime Sunday afternoon.
The University of New Mexico took first place in the tournament on goals-scored differential. The Lobos defeated South Florida 3-2 Friday and West Virginia 2-0 on Sunday afternoon.
The wins were the Mustangs’ first of the season and evened their record at 2-2. The team struggled early in the season with tough road opponents.
Goalkeeper Steve Sandbo said Friday’s win helped get a monkey off his team’s back.
“Oh, a big one,” the sophomore said. “I think there was a little bit of nervousness about getting through the first half without giving up a goal because we’ve struggled with that the past few games. But definitely the team is in much better spirits.”
But for much of the early part of the game, the Mustangs continued to struggle. The game went into halftime 0-0, as SMU wasn’t able to take advantage of a few West Virginia mistakes.
That first win came courtesy of a great individual effort by forward Duke Hashimoto in the 65th minute. The senior from Kapolei, Hawaii cut through four Mountaineer defenders at the top of the box and slotted a low shot past goaltender Nick Noble.
In addition to Hashimoto, midfielders David Chun and Jordan Mann and defenders Jay Needham and Mynor Gonzalez had strong games, keeping the West Virginia forwards fairly contained in spite of the significant size advantage the Mountaineers had.
Sunday’s game against South Florida was a bit more dramatic. The two teams again went into halftime tied at zero, but the Mustangs needed only three minutes and change of the second half to get on the board.
Sophomore midfielder Scott Corbin collected the ball near the top of the box and put a screamer toward the far post that beat Bulls goalkeeper Dane Brenner cleanly in the 49th minute.
The game had been chippy to that point, and in the 71st minute it turned downright ugly when Bulls defender Blake Sharpe received a red card for unintentionally stepping on Chun and being involved in a scrum after the play.
The card left the Bulls down a player, but that didn’t hurt them as they put on a late-match charge. That pressure paid off with less than two minutes to go as Bulls defender Joris Claessens headed home a Rodrigo Hidalgo free kick to tie the game at one.
“That’s kind of the youth of our team,” Mustang coach Schellas Hyndman said. “Good teams will never let you come unmarked through (the box), especially that late in the game. But I’m proud of the guys. A lot of teams would have lost their focus and been frustrated and bickering, but these guys came back out in overtime and still competed.”
Indeed, the Mustangs came out strong in the overtime period, and when the Mustangs were awarded a free kick after Hashimoto was clipped by midfielder Keeron Benito at the top of the box, Needham stepped up and buried a shot in the upper left corner after two players ran through the ball to win the game for SMU.
“It was the right distance,” Needham said. “I had confidence from there. I just wanted to hit one, and it was a good opportunity. I hit it right where I wanted to.”
Needham, Hashimoto and Corbin were named to the All-Tournament Team from SMU. Lobo’s defender Andrew Boyens was named tournament MVP.
The Mustangs return to Westcott Field next weekend for the SMU Mi Cocina Classic.
