SMU’s Richard Oliva (right) slides into Virginia goalkeeper Kyle Rudzinski (left) during Friday’s matchup at the Mi Cocina Classic. (John Schreiber)
The No. 8 SMU men’s soccer team routed the No. 3 Virginia Cavaliers Friday night on their way to winning the Mi Cocina Classic. The win marked a turnaround from last Friday’s tie against No. 22 St. Louis Billikens.
SMU scored the first goal of the game in the 11th minute. After a Virginia foul, junior midfielder Jeff Harwell hit a brilliant ball off of a set piece that assisted senior midfielder Scott Corbin on the goal. Corbin’s goal was a laser beam from about 20 yards out.
SMU scored again with only a little over one minute left in the first half when junior defender Ryan Mirsky redirected a 30-yard Bruno Guarda free kick from inside the box. With the goal, the first half ended with SMU leading 2-0.
Virginia opened up the scoring in the second half when goalie Steve Sandbo could not wrap up a shot by Virginia midfielder Chris Tierney. That resulted in Neil Barlow finding the back of the net for the second time of the season.
The Mustangs did not waste much time in answering the Cavaliers with another goal of their own. Harwell hit another searching free kick from outside the corner of the box that found sophomore defender Leone Cruz. Cruz hit home the bending kick with a header in the lower right-hand corner of the goal.
For the next 25 minutes, the game was fast paced, but no real scoring occurred. The Mustangs finally sealed the game in the 81st minute when Guarda scored on a long pass from freshman defender Patrick Clendenny. The goal was Guarda’s second of the season.
Junior midfielder Richard Oliva added SMU’s final goal when the Virginia defense broke down. Both Dane Saintus and Keoka Osorio assisted Oliva on the play. The game ended with a 5-1 SMU victory over the third best team in the country.
The Cavaliers looked like a Top 10 team, but SMU played on a higher level – most importantly shutting down Virginia’s six and a half foot tall Herman Trophy Candidate, Yannick Reyering.
Hyndman believes the Mustangs completed such a drastic turnaround because “last Friday was the first game of the year and we still had not figured everything out. Against Virginia we made adjustments like moving Adrian Chevannes to defender in order to combat Reyering.”
Cruz said when defending a tall player like Reyering, “you cannot think about his height as a huge factor. The best thing to do is play physical and not allow him to overpower anyone.”
Over the offseason, Hyndman and the coaching staff looked to make the SMU players tougher after facing a bigger and more physical UCSB in the playoffs last year. The conditioning clearly worked out considering Reyering never went uncovered.
Cruz’s efforts on Friday night earned him a place on the All-Tournament Team. The other SMU members of the All-Tournament team are Sandbo, Corbin and Chevannes. Tri-Captain Guarda was named Tournament MVP.
SMU played again on Sunday against the unranked Georgetown Hoyas. After a one-hour lightning delay prior to SMU game, the Mustangs took the damp field and played through rain. The conditions made the ball play fast and led to players constantly overshooting their targets.
The only goal of the game came when midfielder Gabe Arredondo hit an absolute strike from about 25 yards out. Both Cruz and Guarda were credited with an assist on the play.
SMU goes on the road for the first time this year when they play the UCSB Gauchos in the New Mexico Tournament on Friday, Sept. 14. Their second game of the tournament occurs on Sunday against the Washington Huskies.
