The No. 5 SMU Men’s Soccer team defeated the No. 4 Marshall Thundering Herd 4-3 Wednesday night at Hurricane Stadium in Tulsa, Okla. in the quarterfinals of the Conference USA Men’s Soccer Championship.
The two teams last met Columbus Day weekend in Huntington, West Virginia and the two teams went through two overtimes and penalty kicks, but settled with a 1-1 draw.
The Mustangs won behind a hat trick (scoring three times) from the team’s top scorer, Arthur Ivo. Tyler Engel picked up the assist for Ivo’s first goal in the 13th minute to put the Mustangs ahead early 1-0. Ivo put the Mustangs on top again in the 69th minute with an unassisted goal. He would score a needed insurance goal six minutes later off an assist from Robbie Derschang to cap the hat trick and put SMU ahead 4-2. Ivo’s goal count on the season is now nine.
Engel also scored for the Mustangs in the 61st minute to tie the game up. The unassisted goal was Engel’s third of the season.
The leader of the Thundering Herd was sophomore midfielder Matt Risher who picked up his first two goals of the season in the match. The first was an unassisted goal off the left post in the 55th minute to put the Herd up 2-1 and the second was off an assist from junior forward Tom Jackson in the 79th minute to cut SMU’s 4-2 lead in half. Jackson also contributed a goal in the 17th minute in response to Ivo’s first score. The goal came off a rebounded shot from junior midfielder Devin Perkins. It was Jackson’s 10th goal of the season.
SMU’s record now improves to 11-6-1 and 5-3-1 in Conference USA. Marshall’s record falls to an even 8-8-1 and 4-4-1 record in Conference USA.
SMU moves on to the semifinals and will face top-seed University of South Carolina.
The last time these two schools met, the Mustangs barely beat the Gamecocks in a double-overtime 3-2 win.
Although not the championship match, the game will be important for NCAA tournament selection. The Mustangs are ranked 12th in the RPI poll, the poll is used to determine seedings for the NCAA Tournament. The Gamecocks are ranked 17th.
The game will kick off at 5 p.m. on at Hurricane Stadium Friday.
