SMU’s Adrian Chevannes (left) fights for the ball against South Carolina’s Ryan Leeton (right).
The top ranked Mustangs’ men soccer team played the No. 16 South Carolina Gamecocks to a 1-1 tie on Wednesday night.
The Mustangs tied for the second time in a row and the tie marks the first time the Mustangs have tied back-to-back games since 1988.
Manuel Mariel got the Mustangs on the board first in the 34th minute with his second goal of the season.
Mariel headed the ball into the goal when South Carolina goalie Mike Gustavson pulled out to punch the ball away unsuccessfully.
Daniel Lopez and Chase Wileman were each credited with an assist on the play. It was Wileman’s team leading ninth assist of the year.
The Gamecocks stayed on the attack and in the 43rd minute Matt Wideman made a spectacular save on a shot by Cory Lewis. The half ended with the Mustangs leading 1-0.
The second half was marked by the Mustangs staying on the defensive after losing striker Adrian Chevannes for the game due to an undisclosed injury.
The Mustangs continued the shut out the entire second half until the Gamecocks’ Ayo Akinsete broke away and scored his forth goal of the season with only 17 seconds left in the game.
The game went into overtime and the Mustangs “played some of their best soccer” according to coach Schellas Hyndman.
The Mustangs were unable to score a goal in spite of playing well because the Gamecocks dropped most of their players back in defense and played for the tie.
Coach Hyndman said the Gamecocks were “the stronger and more physical team” during the game, but “if you take away the last goal in the last 17 seconds, it was a great game” for the Mustangs.
Yellow cards also plagued the Mustangs throughout the game.
The Mustangs received three yellow cards during the game compared to the Gamecocks one.
The Mustangs also committed 19 of the 40 fouls in one of the most physical games of the season.
This lead to the tempo of the game slowing down, because some of the Mustangs’ players could not risk getting a second yellow card or a red card in the game.
In the past month the Mustangs have lost both of their strikers, Scott Geppert who had surgery on Wednesday to repair his torn ACL and Paulo da Silva who is out until the C-USA tournament, and this has undoubtedly changed the Mustangs. If any team in collegiate soccer is deep enough to survive such injuries it is the still undefeated Mustangs.
With the tie the Mustangs are now 13-0-3 and 3-0-2 in C-USA games. They will play the Memphis Tigers in Memphis, Tenn. on Saturday.
SMU midfielder Bruno Guarda (left) pushes off South Carolina’s Mike Sambursky (right) during last nights game at Westcott Field.
