The Mustang defense didn’t allow a goal until the 90th minute as the SMU Mustangs advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament, defeating the University of San Francisco 2-1 Friday night at Westcott Field.
Freshman forward Paolo da Silva scored both SMU goals. Da Silva, who was starting only his second game of the season, scored in the 18th and 33rd minute for all the offense SMU (11-5-3) would need. He missed his chance for a hat trick later in the first half when he got under a pass in the middle of the box.
Freshman Bruno Guarda did much of the work on da Silva’s first, dribbling the ball up the middle of the field and finding da Silva unmarked in the middle of the box about 15 yards from the goal.
Da Silva’s second goal came from almost the same spot, when he knuckled a cross from senior midfielder Kellan Zindel past the Dons goalkeeper Geremy Uhl, who got a piece of the shot but not enough to keep it from rolling to the back of the net. “He’s finally in shape,” Mustang coach Schellas Hyndman said of da Silva. “College soccer is such an adjustment, with how hard the work is. And he’s starting to be the player we thought he could be.”
Forward Duke Hashimoto helped open up holes for da Silva with his speed. The senior didn’t take a shot in the game but had numerous dangerous runs along the perimeter that stretched the San Francisco defense.
But, the forwards weren’t the only story for the Mustangs. The defense, anchored by junior defender Jay Needham, kept the Dons (11-6-4) without a shot on goal until the final seconds, when a desperate San Francisco found an unmarked Matt Languis in the box.
The cross beat SMU goalkeeper Matt Wideman, who did not make a save in the game.
But, other than the final minutes and a few early stretches where San Francisco controlled play, the Mustangs remained steady all game, letting the Dons run themselves out of opportunities and maintaining control at midfield and forward. The San Francisco players identified Needham as the player who gave them the most trouble throughout the game.
“I think we knew they were going to come out hard and we would have to match that,” Zindel said. “But our midfield, our entire team really, was calm. We played simple and let them try to do too much.”
The Mustangs now face a huge challenge in fifth-seeded UCLA (12-4-3), which they will play Tuesday night in California. The Bruins won the PAC-10 Championship and received an NCAA first-round bye.
UCLA’s strength is in its defense, where Hermann Trophy semi-finalists junior midfielder Patrick Ianni and sophomore defender Marvell Wynne anchor a defense that has 14 shutouts in 2005. The Bruins are giving up just .46 goals per game this season.
The M.A.C. Hermann Trophy is the award given to the most valuable player in men’s college soccer.
The Bruins, ranked seventh in the final NSCAA regular season poll, will host the Mustangs Tuesday at 9 p.m. central time on the UCLA campus.
