The Halloween weekend served no treats for the host Ponies as atrip to the postseason just became a little more difficult. TheMustangs split the home stand, dropping Friday night’scontest to Creighton 0-2 and beating, the visiting team, Drake, 2-0on Sunday.
The loss to Creighton on Friday night was the fifth for theMustangs in Missouri Valley Conference play which is more thandouble the team’s previous conference loss total.
Since the Ponies moved to the MVC in 2000, the squads have onlylost two regular season conference games. The Mustangs’ 4-5record in MVC is good enough for the seventh spot in the MVCrankings and will give the Mustangs a trip to play second seedTulsa next weekend.
Friday night provided plenty of scary moments for theHalloween-goers in the crowd. The Mustangs pounded shot after shotinto the Creighton defense. The host Mustangs outshot the visitingBluejays 20-6. The majority of play was spent in the air with bothsides routinely handing over possession.
The Bluejays did little to form any semblance of an offensiveattack. However, in the 34th minute Creighton forward VinceOdorisio sent a rocket far post that deflected off a Mustangdefender into the far corner of the goal.
The Bluejay goal did little to slow down the Mustang offensivecharge. The Ponies recorded nine corner kicks while holdingCreighton to zero. The Mustangs outshot the Bluejays 15-3 in thesecond half. The ball just never found the right path to thenet.
In the 78th minute, Michael Kraus sent a shot past divingMustang keeper T.J. Tomasso. The goal sealed the victory and theMVC regular season crown for the Bluejays.
On Sunday, the Mustangs did everything possible to salvage theweekend. Prior to the match, SMU’s only senior Kevin Hudsonwas honored for his outstanding career at SMU. Hudson followed witha brilliant performance. The standout from St. Louis tallied bothof the Mustang goals and helped to revive an offense that has gonesour on multiple occasions this season.
The theme of the evening was the same as all season. TheMustangs dominated shots, shots on goal, corner kicks and foulsagainst. This time, the Ponies came out on top, finding the net ontwo occasions. However, heading into postseason play, another gameof offensive dominance without goal production could signal theearly end to an up-and-down Mustang season.
The Mustangs will face conference rival Tulsa on Saturday. Theonly time the two squads hooked up this season, the GoldenHurricane came out on top. The Mustangs lead in each of theoffensive categories except goals scored.
The Golden Hurricane downed the Ponies on Oct. 18 in the 98thminute in Tulsa. The overtime goal marked the first time Tulsa hasbeaten the Mustangs since SMU moved into the MVC.
The Mustangs finished the regular season with a 11-6-1record.
