(Michael Danser/The Daily Campus)
The No. 6 SMU men’s soccer team put on an amazing performance and earned a 3-2 victory over No. 17 Tulsa in front of a packed house at Westcott Field on Wednesday night.
“We were in a battle,” SMU head Coach Tim McClements said. “Tulsa is a very good team. I thought we came out of the gates a little bit sluggish and gave up a goal. Then we scored a very fortunate goal, so it was kind of a night of crazy goals.”
“But I think that they guys hung in there and did the things that they needed to do. It was a battle from start to finish. Any time you win in the conference, you take it,” he said.
The Golden Hurricane got on the board just two minutes into the game when midfielder Corey Albertson took a shot from 14 yards, which was deflected in by defender Jake Dobkins, giving Tulsa an early 1-0 lead.
A little over two minutes later, the Mustangs got right back in the game with a goal of their own. SMU goalkeeper Craig Hill made a simple routine pass to junior defender Adam Still, who fired a shot that bounced over Tulsa goalkeeper Michael Murray’s head and into the net. The 75-yard goal was Still’s first of his career.
“It was a little bit of luck,” Still said. “I got the ball from Craig [Hill] then I looked up, and I was trying to hit the long ball. I hit it, and it just skipped right over the keeper.”
Just when it looked like both teams were going to go into halftime deadlocked at 1-1, Albertson netted in another goal for the Golden Hurricane in the 42nd minute off an assist from defender Hunter Christiansen.
“We didn’t say a ton [at halftime]. We were disappointed in the two goals that went in, and we felt like we needed to make some adjustments,” McClements said. “Tulsa is a good team; they were exploiting some weaknesses that we had so we made couple of adjustments moving guys around.”
The adjustments seemed to work as junior midfielder Arthur Ivo scored the equalizer in the 62nd minute on a free kick from 40 yards out. The goal was Ivo’s sixth of the season which is second most on the team.
“The ball moved a lot,” Ivo said. “I kind of got lucky the ball went right through the keeper’s hands.”
SMU freshman midfielder Robbie Derschang capped a furious Mustang comeback when he scored the game winning goal in the 69th minute off an assist from Ivo. Derschang displayed excellent footwork and poise in the box allowing him to tally his fifth goal of the year.
“It was a great ball by Arthur [Ivo], he saw me wide open on the counter,” Derschang said. “I dribbled by one guy and the only thing that came to mind was, ‘just have to shoot it and see what happens,’ and fortunately it went in the goal.”
Tulsa threatened to score with 30 seconds left in the game following a corner kick, but Craig Hill recorded his seventh save of the game and ended a drama-filled night.
“I did my job and made saves when I had to,” Hill said. “I just played behind the ball and made sure it didn’t get in the back of the net.”
McClements believes Tulsa tried to key on freshman forward Juan Castillo who leads SMU with eight goals. Castillo pressured the Golden Hurricane defense all night and opened up scoring opportunities for his teammates.
“Juan [Castillo] has done really well, but we have a lot of weapons that can score and it’s nice to see it be shared around,” McClements said. “You can’t just try to shut down one guy.”
The crowd of 848 at Westcott Field really energized the team, according Derschang.
“It was a great atmosphere, there were so many fans and that’s what I think brought out our emotions in the second half,” he said. “I haven’t played in front of that many people in a while, and it was the crowd that really got us going.”
The win moved the Mustangs to 12-1 overall on the season and 4-1 in Conference USA action.
“We’ll do whatever it takes to win,” Ivo said. “If we’re coming from behind or it’s 0-0, we’re giving 100 percent to win the game and that’s why we are able to comeback every time. We just go out there and play our heart out.”
SMU will head to Memphis to take on the Tigers on Saturday at 7 p.m.
The Mustangs hold a 6-1-0 lead in the all-time series between the two schools. Memphis is 3-8-1 on the year and 0-4-1 in Conference USA action.
“Memphis has always been a tough team for us,” McClements said.
“They’re fighting for their lives in the conference, so they’re going to have their backs up against the wall. They need points, so I think they’ll come out swinging and it’ll be a difficult match.”
