The SMU men’s soccer team traveled to Florida International in the final regular season game Friday and emerged victorious, 2-1.

However, the Mustangs (10-5-2, 3-4-1 Conference USA) lost their team captain for the first game of the conference tournament, which begins Wednesday at Westcott Field. SMU’s win pushed it to the No. 3 seed, and it faces South Carolina at 8 p.m. Wednesday.

The scoring got started when Phillip Fisher scored a goal in the 17th minute for FIU. Fisher received the ball from teammate Diego Tamburus and was able to beat SMU goalkeeper Craig Hill.

It took SMU just two minutes to answer, though, as Leone Cruz scored in the 18th minute. Cruz scored via header on a cross into the box from Kekoa Osoria.

The score would stay tied at 1-1 through halftime. The Mustangs went ahead for good in the 55th minute when Jeff Harwell scored an unassisted goal from just about 18 yards away.

Three red cards were given between the teams, two to FIU and one to SMU. For SMU, captain Daniel Lopez received a red card in the 88th minute. With the red card, Lopez must now sit out the first game of the conference tournament, which will be the first game he has missed all year.

With Lopez serving the suspension, the Mustangs will be missing two players in their back line. Senior defender Ryan Mirsky has been injured. With both Mirsky and Lopez gone, head coach Tim McClements has a tough decision as to who to fill their roles in the defense.

While the game had an impact on the Mustangs’ seeding in the upcoming conference tournament, there was no risk of not making the tournament for SMU. With this in mind, McClements made the decision to leave forward Paulo da Silva in Dallas last weekend to rest and get healthy for the tournament.