SMU Finishes Disappointing Season with Loss
Published 11/13/2008 9:15:05 PM by staff from dallas
The SMU men were crushed on their home field by South Carolina in the quarterfinals of the Conference USA Tourney yesterday in Dallas, Texas. The 3-0 loss just put an exclamation point on a disastrous second half of the 2008 season which saw the Mustangs crash out of a top 10 national ranking into a position of not making the NCAA Tourney at all. Soft goalkeeping was once again the name of the game as SMU was outplayed in the nets by South Carolina star Jimmy Maurer while SMU keeper Craig Hill allowed 3 goals on only 6 shots. The SMU faithful have been mumbling for weeks about the goalkeeping and it once again reared its ugly head. South Carolina jumped ahead in the 25th minute as a free kick deflected off an SMU defender and dribbled into the net. The goal was awarded to striker Blake Brettschneider. The killer came less than a minute before halftime when South Carolina doubled their lead when junior forward Bryan Lowder got in behind the SMU defense and put the ball away from just inside the penalty box. SMU tried to fight back in the 2nd half, but were never able to break down the Carolina defense. In the 77th minute the Gamecocks scored the third goal when Sam Arthur scored off an assist from Will Traynor. SMU finishes the season at 10-6-2, but going a disappointing 5-6-1 over their last 12 games. It is very doubtful the team will receive an at large bid to the NCAA Tourney.
Label: SMU soccer, South Carolina, Bryan Lowder, Blake Brettschneider
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