This Sunday the SMU men’s soccer team will try to extend their winning streak as they will host conference rival Kentucky.
The Mustangs are coming off two straight 2-0 victories in the past week. The first came Oct.. 22 against the University of Alabama Birmingham when the Mustangs road two goals from freshman Diogo de Almedia. The second win came Oct. 25 against the University of Central Florida.
In the UCF game, the Mustangs enjoyed the return of forward Paulo da Silva from injury. He scored two goals in a two minute period.
Kentucky, on the other hand, will come into Dallas having played to a two over time draw against No. 14 Indiana this past Tuesday. Before the game Tuesday, the Wildcats had won four straight games.
On offense the Wildcats are lead by Tim Crone. Crone, a junior from Cincinnati Ohio, has five goals and two assists on the season. Senior Michael Strong is also a force up top for Kentucky but the senior has missed a string of games lately. Strong has seven goals and one assist in 13 games.
On the defensive side, Kentucky starts junior Dan Williams in goal. Williams has allowed just 14 goals and has 48 saves in 16 games this season for the Wildcats. William has a 77 percent save rate while allowing only .84 goals per game.
The SMU offense will be in its strongest form of the season as the underclassmen on this team have been developing all season and da Silva is back in action and well rested.
Despite missing an extended period of time, da Silva is still the leading scorer as he has second goal and two assists in just 10 games. Next on the list is freshman de Almedia who has five goals and one assist in 15 games this season.
Meanwhile, the defense for the Mustangs has been better in recent weeks as they have shut out their opponents two games in a row now. In goal, Craig Hill has 56 saves on the season while allowing only 13 goals.
One thing to watch for in the game is the type of formation SMU will run as they enter their last stretch before the C-USA Tournament. Without da Silva in the line up the Mustangs played in a 4-3-3 formation.
This formation puts four players on the back line of the defense, three in the midfield and three up top playing forward. This formation increases the Mustangs ability to attack the other team as it gets more numbers in the opposing team’s end.
With the return of their top scorer, the Mustangs may attempt to switch back to a 4-4-2 formation. This simply takes away a forward and puts them in the midfield as an extra defender. This formation allows the SMU to have more players back on defense while at the same time the added midfielders gives the team the ability to control the ball more and build attacks through passing.
The game on Sunday is set to get started at 12 p.m. at Westcott Field. The game will tape delayed by CBS College Sports to be televised at a later date and can be heard live online at www.kpni.info/soccer.
