Leone Cruz and the Mustangs will go back to work tonight at home after a rough weekend in New Mexico. (John Schreiber)
The Mustangs will take on the Centenary Gents at 7:30 p.m. at Westcott Field on Thursday. After losing both games last weekend, the Mustangs will try to return to their beginning-of-the season form.
Centenary is 1-5-0 on the season and has been outscored by a combined score of 6-18. The Gents’ offensive has been somewhat stagnant for their first six games and they will not catch a break against a young, but talented, SMU defense.
Midfielder Aaron Volanski has provided the vast majority of the Gents offense so far this season. He has scored five of six goals and was named Summit League Offensive Player of the week after scoring four goals in three games.
Mustangs Jeff Harwell and Ryan Mirsky are coming off of good tournament performances. They were both named to the All-Tournament Team over the weekend after solid performances against UC-Santa Barbara and Washington.
The Mustangs’ offense has been sluggish over the past three games. They have only scored two goals in that period of time in spite of consistently getting shots on goal.
The Mustangs will play a second game this weekend at Westcott Field on Saturday. The game will take place at 7:30 p.m. against the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles.
The Golden Eagles are 2-4-0 on the season after losing their last game to Virginia Tech 3-1. On the year, the Golden Eagles have seen the referee reaching into his pocket a few too many times. They have received seven yellow cards and two red cards in only six games.
Juan Chang leads the Golden Eagles in points this season after scoring three of their five goals. The sophomore midfielder from Guatemala City was named to the Mid-Continent Conference all-newcomer squad last year and is a goal scorer to watch on Saturday.
Even though the Mustangs are heavily favored to win both of these games, neither of these teams should be treated lightly. The Mustangs need to concentrate on playing both sides of the ball and converting their scoring chances.
