Men's soccer melts down
Staff Report,
The 11th-ranked SMU Mustangs scored three second-half goals, including two in the final 10 minutes, to sneak past Tulsa, 3-2, in front of 1,753 fans at the Hurricane Soccer & Track Stadium last Friday.
Playing in front of the eighth-largest crowd in school history and a nationally-televised audience, Tulsa senior Kyle Brown scored two goals to give the Hurricane a 2-1 lead with less than 20 minutes remaining. However, SMU used its speed and the stellar play of Duke Hashimoto to thwart any chance of an upset.
Tulsa needed just a little over three minutes in the second half to break the scoreless tie and take a 1-0 lead. Senior Daniel Wasson broke free down the center of the field and had a step on the SMU defense. However, a Mustang defender pulled Wasson down inside the penalty box and Tulsa was awarded a penalty kick. Brown stepped up and converted the charity shot into his eighth goal of the year, four of which have come on penalty kicks.
Hashimoto scored his seventh goal of the year and tied the game at the 64:06 mark when he rebounded a missed shot and stuck it back in to tie the game, 1-1. Tulsa goalkeeper Tyrel Lacey appeared to have made the save, but the ball popped loose and Hashimoto tapped it back in for an easy goal.
Brown struck again at 70:58 to put the Hurricane back in the lead when he blasted a shot from 23 yards out into the left side of the net for his second goal of the game. Wasson picked up the assist on the score.
But tonight belonged to the Mustangs as Chase Wideman and Hashimoto played a ball into the penalty box and defender Jay Needham finished the play with a shot to the left side at the 84:45 minute mark to tie the game.
The Mustangs took the lead for good with less than three minutes remaining when Scott Corbin raced down the left side of the box and nailed a shot to the right corner at 87:37 to cap the SMU comeback. Hashimoto picked up his second assist of the game and completed the night with one goal and two assists for four points.
Tulsa dropped to 4-5-6 overall and 1-3-3 in Conference USA play, while league-leader SMU improved to 9-4-2 and 7-0 in C-USA contests. Fridays game was the largest attended game in Conference USA this season.
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