With a 1-1 record on the weekend, the SMU men’s soccer team clinched its first C-USA title and earned the right to host the C-USA tournament in two weeks.
The Mustangs (10-5-2, 8-1 C-USA)Ã steamrolled the East Carolina Pirates 7-0 Friday night to clinch the regular season title, making a 3-0 loss to South Carolina less painful, even as it snapped an eight game winning streak and gave them their only conference loss of the season.
This is SMU’s fifth conference title in six years. The previous titles came during the team’s tenure in the Missouri Valley Conference.
Friday night’s game was the first time the Mustangs had scored seven goals in a game since Sept. 23, 2001, when they beat Memphis 7-0 at the TCU Nike Classic.
Against ECU, the Mustangs held a 28-6 shot advantage and put three-quarters of those shots on goal.
Dario Saintus opened the scoring in the 11th minute when sophomore Kellan Zindel found him for a tap in to the open net, and Saintus doubled the score a minute later off another Zindel assist when he sent a shot into the upper corner from the top of the box.
Zindel tallied the next goal unassisted when he took a shot that deflected off a defender and beat the Pirates’ goalkeeper in the 22nd minute.
He also picked up an assist in Chase Wileman’s 28th minute goal and scored his second on the game in the 49th minute off a Richard Oliva cross to put the Mustangs up 6-0.
Senior Duke Hashimoto also had a goal in the game, with Oliva scoring the Mustangs other goal. Scott Corbin, Tim McRae and Paulo da Silva all had assists for SMU.
But, the Mustangs suffered a little bit of a letdown Sunday afternoon when they fell to South Carolina.
It was the third time this season SMU has been shut out. South Carolina scored the game winner in the 25th minute, then added insurance goals in the 78th and 83rd minutes to seal the victory.
The C-USA tournaments will run Nov. 9-13 at Westcott Field.
