SMU senior goalkeeper Craig Hill has been named Conference USA Defensive Player of the Week and to the College Soccer News Team of the Week for his five-save performance against conference foe Kentucky on Saturday night at Westcott Field.
Hill has helped lead the No. 5 Mustangs to a 14-1-0 overall record and 6-1-0 mark in Conference USA action.
His efforts against Kentucky helped the Mustangs clinch the regular season Conference USA title and a first round bye in the Conference USA tournament on senior night.
“It was a great feeling coming out here putting on that on that kind of performance and coming out with a clean sheet and a win,” Hill said after the Kentucky game.
A clean sheet was the perfect way to end Hill’s final regular season home game at SMU. The shutout was Hill’s third of the season and SMU’s second consecutive shutout.
Defensively, the Mustangs played one of their best games of the season against the Wildcats. In the 26th minute, Hill made a spectacular diving save that got the team and the crowd energized, preventing the Wildcats from etching into the 2-0 SMU lead.
“We just kept the ball same thing as we always do,” Hill said. “We limited their chances and we did what we were supposed to do, and I kept the ball out of the back of the net.”
If all goes well in the Mustangs’ next game and in the Conference USA tournament, the senior captain is hopeful that he will get to return to Westcott Field for the NCAA tournament.
Fortunately for us, we may get some more home games but you never know, so it feels great,” Hill said.
The weekly honor is the first of the year for Hill and the second of his career. Hill’s previous honor came during his sophomore year in October of 2008.
Hill, originally from San Antonio, Texas, was a NSCAA All-American in 2005 as a senior for San Antonio Reagan High School.
He recorded 23 shutouts in 40 starts during his time Regan. Hill also played club soccer with the San Antonio Hammer ‘87 and the Austin Lonestars ‘88 Red teams.
The fifth year senior was selected by
CollegeSoccerNews.com as one of its 100 Freshmen to Watch but was redshirted by SMU his freshman year.
In 2008, Hill became a full time starter as a sophomore and showed SMU fans his potential as a top goalkeeper.
He racked up 11 saves in a match against Northern Illinois and recorded six shutouts for the year.
As a junior in 2009, Hill went the first 346 minutes of the season without allowing a goal in the course of play. He finished the season with three saves and a 1.44 goals allowed per game average.
This season, Hill has started all 15 games and has only allowed 16 for an average of 1.05 goals per game. He has also tallied 52 saves and three shutouts.
Hill will star in SMU’s final regular season game against Florida International in Miami on today at 6 p.m.
