(John Schreiber)
The SMU men’s soccer team lost all of its momentum from its absolute dominance in the Mi Cocina Classic this past weekend. The Mustangs finished last in the Nike/Crescent Financial Solutions Invitational Tournament after losing a heartbreaker to 2006 College Cup winners No. 14 UC-Santa Barbara Gauchos and the unranked Washington Huskies.
In their highly anticipated rematch with UCSB after the Gauchos sent SMU packing in the second round of the college cup last year, the Mustangs came up short in a close overtime game. The Gauchos got on the board first when Ciaran O’Brien scored from inside the box in the 34th minute. Chris Pontius and Tino Nuñez were both credited with assists.
UCSB went into halftime with a 1-0 lead and a stranglehold on all statistical categories. At the half, they led SMU 11-4 in shots taken, 5-2 in corner kicks and only had one yellow card as opposed to SMU’s two.
The second half featured relatively little action until sophomore Dane Saintus scored in the 83rd minute. The goal was unassisted since Saintus took the ball into the box himself and shot from the right side of the box, beating the goalkeeper to the lower left corner of the goal.
Regulation ended in a 1-1 tie that started overtime. The Gauchos took the only two shots of the first overtime and won when Eric Avila scored on a “give-and-go” pass from Ciaran O’Brien in the box. The overtime goal ended SMU’s chance for revenge and, in all likelihood, their top five ranking.
To make matters worse, the Mustangs were unable to rebound against the Washington Huskies. The first half was relatively unexciting except for the 12 fouls and two yellow cards the Huskies received in the first half. The half ended in a scoreless deadlock.
The Huskies came out of halftime running, and in the 52nd minute midfielder George John hit a strike from the top of the box off a corner kick for his first goal of the season. Defender Casey Cunningham was credited with the assist on the cross.
Washington held on to its 1-0 until it sealed the game in the 84th minute when forward Kevin Forrest scored his fifth goal of the season. He scored on a cross from Ely Allen, who was credited with the assist on the play.
On a positive note, junior midfielder Jeff Harwell and junior defender Ryan Mirsky were both named to the Nike/Crescent Financial Solutions All Tournament Team. They were the only two SMU representatives out of 11 players.
With the losses, SMU falls to 2-2-1 on the season after an impressive start. The Mustangs look to bounce back against Centenary College on Thursday when they host the Cyclones at Westcott Field at 7:30 p.m.
