No. 25 Men's Soccer Defeats Kentucky, 2-0 (with VIDEO)

[PonyPride]

From SMUMustangs.com:

No. 25 Mustangs Defeat Kentucky, 2-0
SMU extends unbeaten streak to nine games, shutout streak to three

Oct. 6, 2012

DALLAS (SMU) - The No. 25 SMU men's soccer team defeated Kentucky, 2-0, Saturday night at Westcott Field. Sophomore Tyler Engel and junior Juan Castillo scored for the Mustangs. With the win, SMU moves to 8-2-2 on the year and holds a 4-0 mark in Conference USA action. Kentucky falls to 5-6-1 and is 0-1-1 in league play.

Engel opened the scoring for the Mustangs with a penalty kick in the 65th minute after Castillo was taken down in the box. Engel converted the opportunity for his fifth goal of the season and a 1-0 SMU lead. The forward leads the Mustangs in goals (5), game-winning goals (4), assists (5) and points (15).

Castillo added insurance with a goal of his own in the 75th minute. Engel sent a long through pass from the right side to Castillo, who ran onto the ball and tapped it in from eight yards out. The goal was Castillo's first of the year after returning from offseason surgery.

The Mustang defense once again shut down the opposition following another golden night in net by junior Jaime Ibarra. The reigning NSCAA National Player of the Week made five saves on the night en route to his third consecutive shutout and fifth clean sheet of the season.

SMU heads to Florida next week to take on UCF (Oct. 14) and FIU (Oct. 17).


SMU head coach Tim McClements


Forward Juan Castillo

[Charleston Pony]

very impressive that we score on 2 of our 3 SOG

[PonyPride]

Good point. It's not like the Ponies don't create chances, but if a shot is blocked at the top of the penalty box by an opposing defender, it doesn't get recorded as a shot on goal. That said, head coach Tim McClements has said he is pleased with his offense's ability to convert chances in to goals at a pretty high rate, but he would like to see more chances. His comment was (paraphrasing) something about how the team needs to create more chances, but he is pleased that so many of the chances created are quality chances.