SMU midfielder Josue Soto attempts to dribble past South Carolina midfielder Chipper Root during play Wednesday evening at Wescott Field. SMU won the match 3-1.

In a battle between two top-20 ranked teams, the No. 8 SMU men’s soccer team prevailed over No. 20 South Carolina, 3-1 on Wednesday night at Westcott Field.

“It was a tough one,” head Coach Tim McClements said. “Great win. Any win in the conference–we’ll take it. Hats off to the guys. They rolled up their sleeves and got it done.”

The Mustangs suffered their first loss of the season to Central Florida Saturday night, but bounced back with a big victory over the Gamecocks (5-3-1, 1-2-0) to move to 10-1-0 overall and 2-1 in Conference USA play.

“In the conference, it’s all about points,” McClements said. “This conference is so tough right now, you want to get every single point you can, especially at home. They are the most valuable. Going on the road and losing to UCF, we were disappointed because we didn’t feel like we played to our potential.”

In the 41st minute, Gamecock goalkeeper Jimmy Maurer punted the ball past midfield finding forward Blake Brettschneider, who made an excellent run.

He sent the ball off the far post and in to give South Carolina a 1-0 lead heading into intermission.

“It’s disappointing that we played as well as we did in the first half and gave up a goal at the end,” McClements said.

However, the second half belonged to SMU as the Mustangs came out with a new fire in their eyes.

At the beginning of the second half, midfielder Arthur Ivo scored “one of the best goals of the season,” according to McClements.

Ivo sent the ball into the back of the net from 25 yards out to even the score to 1-1, tallying the junior’s fifth goal of the year. Senior midfielder Kekoa Osorio was awarded the assist.

“Kekoa found me in the middle,” Ivo said. “I kept going at a good speed, beat a defender and I was lucky enough to hit a good shot.”

In the 76th minute, Ivo drew a penalty kick when he was taken down in the box, which opened up another scoring opportunity for SMU. Senior midfielder Josue Soto stepped in and converted on the penalty kick for his fourth goal of the season, giving the Mustangs a 2-1 lead.

The Mustangs put the final nail in the coffin in the end of the game when freshman forward Juan Castillo led a ball for fellow freshman midfielder Zach Barnes. Barnes took off on a breakaway, slowed down to make a move around the goalie and netted his fourth goal of the year. The assist was Castillo’s third of the season.

“[This win] is huge,” Ivo said. “It’s exactly what we needed. Tonight we knew we needed to come out here and play our best and do exactly what we did. We just went at them with speed and press and we got the result.”

While the Mustangs earned the victory, they lost something valuable along the way.

Midfielder TJ Nelson went down only eight minutes into the game.

“TJ Nelson is a big player for us and he pulled his hamstring tonight,” McClements said. “He’s a big piece of the puzzle.”

McClements said that they will know more about the extent of the injury over the next couple of days.

SMU will host Conference USA foe Marshall Sunday at 7 p.m. The all-time series between the two teams stands at 2-2-0.