The men’s soccer team beat the Marshall Thundering Herd on Saturday night 1-0. With the win, the Mustangs improve to 15-1-3 for the season and 5-1-2 in C-USA. SMU is the regular season winner of C-USA. The Thundering Herd fell to 4-9-2 for the season and 1-5-1 in conference play. The Blazers are last place in C-USA. The Thundering Herd is the only team that is not going to be in the C-USA tournament.

The tournament starts on Nov. 1 and in it the Mustangs are the top seeded team. They will take on FIU (6-9-2, 2-6 C-USA) unless Marshall beats the University of Central Florida and locks up the eighth seed of the tournament. Either way, the Mustangs will be heavily favored to win the game.

Coach Schellas Hyndman won the 450th game of his career on Saturday. Coach Hyndman is 12th among NCAA coaches in all-time victories and second among active coaches with a winning percentage of .773.

The Mustangs scored the only goal of the game in 27th minute when senior Chase Wileman scored his seventh goal of the season. He put the ball in the back of the net from the left side of the box. Both Adrian Chevannes and Bruno Guarda assisted Wileman on the play. The Mustangs had many more goal scoring opportunities in the game, but Wileman’s goal proved to be the only goal the Mustangs would score and enough to top the Thundering Herd.

The game was physical with a total of 39 fouls, 21 of which were the Mustangs’ and five cards given to the Thundering Herd. Marshall received yellow cards in the 25th, 45th, 52nd and 76th minutes of the game. They also received a red card in the 55th minute and were forced to play one man down for the rest of the game.

The Mustangs created the physical and upbeat tempo of the game with their midfield play.

The shutout was the Mustangs’ 12th shutout of the year. Senior goalkeeper Matt Wideman was credited with four saves en route to his 10th shutout of the year. He has been involved in every shutout this season, but split time in two games.

The win caps an extraordinary season for the Mustangs who should finish No. 1 in the regular season standings. After the C-USA tournament starting on Wednesday, the Mustangs look to continue winning in the chase for the College Cup, which takes place in St. Louis at the beginning of December.