The men’s soccer team shut out the Memphis Tigers 3-0 on Saturday. The victory marks the Mustangs’ 11th shutout victory of the season and keeps the Mustangs atop the C-USA standings with 14 points.
The Mustangs got on the board in the first half when sophomore defender Ryan Mirsky scored the first goal of his career in the 26th minute. Mirsky was unassisted on the play and scored on a strike about 30 yards away from the goal.
The half ended with a score of 1-0 with Mirsky having the only score of the game. Besides the Mustangs’ goal, the half was relatively uneventful from an offensive perspective, with only a combined 12 shots, 10 fouls and a couple of corner kicks.
In the second half, the Mustangs picked up the offensive play by adding two goals scored by senior Chase Wileman. The first goal came in the 66th minute when Wileman beat the Tigers’ goalkeeper Michael Goodlett on an assist from Adrian Chevannes. The assist is Chevannes fourth assist of the year. The Mustangs scored again in the 74th minute when Wileman put back the rebound off of a penalty kick. The goal was Wileman’s team leading sixth of the season. Wileman also leads the Mustangs in scoring with a total of 21 points off of six goals and nine assists.
The Mustangs aggressively outplayed the Tigers in the second half. SMU had 15 shots in the second half compared to the Tigers’ four shots. The Mustangs also controlled the ball and only allowed the Tigers one shot on goal. Wileman led the Mustangs in shots with nine and seven shots on goal.
The offensive attack deserves a large amount of credit for the victory over the Tigers, but the defense was spectacular once again. Mustangs’ goalkeeper Matt Wideman made three saves, but was barely challenged because the ball was in Tiger territory for the majority of the game.
With the Mustang’s offensive attack playing well in spite of significant injuries and the Mustangs’ always solid defensive front and goalkeeper, the Mustangs are poised for a great run in the C-USA tournament in early November.
There are only two conference games remaining in the season. The Mustangs play at UAB on Wednesday and their final home game of the season against Marshall on Saturday. The game is at 7 p.m. and will be important in insuring that the Mustangs stay No. 1 not only in the national polls, but in C-USA. In the C-USA standings, South Carolina trails SMU by only one point, but they have played one more game than the Mustangs. A victory on Wednesday will insure the Mustangs the number one seed in the tournament.
