The SMU men’s soccer team will try for its first conference win, as it hosts the Marshall Thundering Herd at 7 p.m. Sunday at Westcott Field.

Marshall won its first game of the season Wednesday against Florida International 3-2. The only other non-loss for the Thundering Herd was a 3-3 tie against Bowling Green on Aug. 27.

The Thundering Herd has lost 10 games and has been shut out in five of them. Marshall is allowing an average of 2.78 goals per game.

The Mustangs have no room to overlook this opponent as they have yet to win a conference game. The Thundering Herd has a better conference record (1-10-1) than SMU (0-2-1).

“I think that the one thing that we took away from the [Central Arkansas] game that was good was that we didn’t take them lightly,” said SMU head coach Tim McClements. “I think that sometimes you go into games and you have teams who haven’t won so much or have fell upon hard times. You think it is an easy win, and I think our guys have got it in their head that no win is an easy win.”

McClements went on to talk about the emergence of underclassmen, who provided all of the offensive power for the game against Central Arkansas. “We have a good group of young guys, and it takes time for freshman to gel and older players to gel. Just trying to find the right combinations took time.”

When asked if he was worried about the team overlooking Marshall, McClements’ answer was simple, “I think that the guys are very focused. They know that they have to win and perform. We can’t have up and downs, we have to have consistent levels of play”

The Mustangs may get some help this week as leading scorer Paulo da Silva, who is listed as day to day, will have a chance to play Sunday. He has five goals and two assists in just nine games.The SMU men’s soccer team will try for its first conference win, as it hosts the Marshall Thundering Herd at 7 p.m. Sunday at Westcott Field.

Marshall won its first game of the season Wednesday against Florida International 3-2. The only other non-loss for the Thundering Herd was a 3-3 tie against Bowling Green on Aug. 27.

The Thundering Herd has lost 10 games and has been shut out in five of them. Marshall is allowing an average of 2.78 goals per game.

The Mustangs have no room to overlook this opponent as they have yet to win a conference game. The Thundering Herd has a better conference record (1-10-1) than SMU (0-2-1).

“I think that the one thing that we took away from the [Central Arkansas] game that was good was that we didn’t take them lightly,” said SMU head coach Tim McClements. “I think that sometimes you go into games and you have teams who haven’t won so much or have fell upon hard times. You think it is an easy win, and I think our guys have got it in their head that no win is an easy win.”

McClements went on to talk about the emergence of underclassmen, who provided all of the offensive power for the game against Central Arkansas. “We have a good group of young guys, and it takes time for freshman to gel and older players to gel. Just trying to find the right combinations took time.”

When asked if he was worried about the team overlooking Marshall, McClements’ answer was simple, “I think that the guys are very focused. They know that they have to win and perform. We can’t have up and downs, we have to have consistent levels of play”

The Mustangs may get some help this week as leading scorer Paulo da Silva, who is listed as day to day, will have a chance to play Sunday. He has five goals and two assists in just nine games.