Men's Soccer Defeats C-USA Rival Tulsa, 2-1

[PonyPride]

From SMUMustangs.com:

Men's Soccer Defeats C-USA Rival Tulsa, 2-1
de Almeida, Castillo score for SMU

Oct. 5, 2011

TULSA, Okla. (SMU) - The SMU men's soccer team defeated Conference USA rival Tulsa, 2-1, at Hurricane Stadium on Wednesday Night. Senior Diogo de Almeida and sophomore Juan Castillo scored for the Mustangs. With the win, SMU moves to 6-4 on the season and now has a 1-1 mark in C-USA. Tulsa is now 4-6 on the year and holds a 0-2 record in league play.

"It's always a difficult game with Tulsa, always a challenge," head coach Tim McClements said. "Obviously Tulsa is our biggest rival. Coming up here and getting a win on the road after dropping one to UCF is exactly what we needed. It was an incredibly exciting game; giving up a goal early and coming back. With all of the cards, there was a really exciting finish; there were a lot of close calls. Quality came through in the end though and we got a really big conference road win. From the outside, it was entertaining to watch, but as a coach, it's a tough one to sit through."

de Almeida got SMU on the board with his first goal on the season in 26th minute, knotting the score at one. Senior Arthur Ivo set up for a free kick from 30 yards out and sent his shot off the post to de Almeida was there to knock it home.

Less than four minutes later, Castillo sealed the game with the eventual game-winner. Ivo picked up us his second assist of the night after sending a ball into the box to Castillo who volley it into the back of the net from 15 yards out for a 2-1 Mustang lead. The goal was Castillo's team-leading third goal of the season and third game-clinching goal of the year. Ivo's two-assist night pushed his team-high point total to 11.

Sophomore goalkeeper Jaime Ibarra came up huge for the Mustangs, recording seven saves on the night.

"Jaime was unbelievable," McClements said. "He was the man of the match without a doubt. He had several point blank saves and kept us in the game."

Freshman Aaron Simmons also kept the Mustangs in the game with his save on the goal line with just over five minutes left to play, preserving the 2-1 SMU lead.

The game took an interesting turn as Tulsa's Blaine Gonsalves received his second yellow of the match in the 64th minute to put SMU up a man. Less than two minutes later, senior Ian Kalis picked up his second yellow to put the teams at 10 players apiece. Golden Hurricane Jake Dobkins earned a hard red in the 69th minute, forcing Tulsa to play nine players to SMU's 10 for the remainder of the game.

Tulsa opened the scoring early with a goal by Corey Albertson in the seventh minute.

SMU continues its three-game conference road trip on Oct. 8 at Marshall at 6 p.m. The Mustangs defeated the Herd, 2-1, in overtime last year at Westcott Field. Castillo netted a goal in the 25th minute, and Zach Barnes sealed the win with his overtime game-winning goal in the 95th minute.

[DanFreibergerForHeisman]

Congratulations to the Mustangs.

It certainly wasn't the prettiest win, but three points on the road in conference is always huge.

[dickey1331]

Nice win. Now lets go beat Marshall.