SMU goalkeeper Craig Hill punches the ball away from the goal in Sunday night’s match against UCA at Westcott Field. (Casey Lee)
The SMU men’s soccer team ended their winless streak this past Sunday by defeating Central Arkansas with its best offensive performance of the season.
The Mustangs were lead by a young offensive attack as under classmen represented all of the offensive power. Midfielders Leone Cruz and Diogo de Almedia scored two goals apiece while freshman forward Arthur Ivo added a goal of his own.
The scoring started when Cruz scored a goal while lying on his back after a collision. The ball came to Cruz after a shot by Adam Still deflected off of the UCA goalkeeper in the 19th minute.
Central Arkansas would give the Mustangs a fight though as they scored the equalizer in the 32nd minute when Jordan Prescott knocked in a rebound off SMU keeper Craig Hill. The game would stay locked at 1-1 until after the halftime intermission.
While the first half was a relative deadlock, SMU won the game by dominating the second half. The Mustangs got what proved to be the game winner in the 60th minute when Arthur Ivo knocked in his second career collegiate goal. The goal was a rebound off of a Gabe Arredondo shot.
The Mustangs then pressed on the accelerator as they scored three goals in just ten minutes. The attack started with a goal from Cruz, his second goal of the game, as he headed a Jeff Harwell free kick past the UCA keeper to make it 3-1 in the 73rd minute.
The Mustangs followed that with a de Almedia goal off of a Ryan Mirsky shot in the 80th minute. Finally the Mustangs got their final goal of the night as de Almedia again scored off of a Ryan Mirsky shot in the 83rd minute to push the score to 5-1.
The Mustangs dominated every aspect of the game by outshooting UCA 26-6 and having six corner kicks to UCA’s two. They also helped out keeper Craig Hill as they only allowed two shots on goal.
SMU proved to still be a threat offensively despite missing their top two point leaders. Paulo da Silva sat out due to injury and Dane Saintus was forced to sit out due to a red card he received against South Carolina.
With the win, the Mustangs improve to 7-3-2 on the season. However, SMU is still winless in conference with a 0-2-1 record.
The Mustangs will return to conference play this Sunday as they play host to the Marshall Thundering Herd at 7 p.m. on Sunday.
