SMU Mustangs men's soccer

SMU Mustangs men's soccer
2024 SMU Mustangs men's soccer team
Founded	1975;50 years ago (1975)
University	Southern Methodist University
Head coach	Kevin Hudson (9th season)
Conference	ACC
Location	Dallas, Texas
Stadium	Washburne Stadium (Capacity: 2,577)
Nickname	Mustangs
Colors	Red and blue [1]
Home
NCAA Tournament College Cup
2000, 2005
NCAA Tournament Quarterfinals
1985, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1995, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2005, 2010, 2019, 2024
NCAA Tournament Round of 16
1979, 1980, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2010, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2023, 2024
NCAA Tournament appearances
1979, 1980, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022, 2023, 2024
Conference Tournament championships
1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2011, 2017, 2018, 2019
Conference Regular Season championships
1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2010, 2012, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2023

The SMU Mustangs men's soccer team represents Southern Methodist University in men's college soccer. The team currently competes in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Mustangs made their most recent appearance in the NCAA Tournament in 2024. In 2024 the Mustangs reached their fourteenth Elite Eight before falling to No.13 Seed Marshall 3–2.

The Mustangs have been one of the top men's collegiate sides in the NCAA since being founded in 1975, and are regularly featured in Top 25 polls. The Mustangs used to be coached by former FC Dallas and current Grand Canyon University coach Schellas Hyndman. Current FC Dallas coach Luchi Gonzalez played for the Mustangs from 1998 to 2001.

History

The SMU fielded their first soccer team in 1975, coached by Jim Benedek. The Mustangs finished the season with a 14–4–3 record. Benedek remained with the team until 1983. ^[2]

During the 2006 season, the SMU men's soccer program was ranked No. 1 in the nation for four consecutive weeks. The team sat atop the four national polls with a record of 13-0-2 in the Adidas/NSCA poll, SoccerTimes.com poll, Soccer America Magazine poll, and the CollegeSoccerNews.com poll. Concurrently, the SMU women's soccer program cracked the top 25, at No. 22 in the Adidas/NSCA poll and No. 19 in the SoccerTimes.com poll.

On November 6, 2006, the SMU men's soccer team finished the regular season ranked No. 2 in the nation. Additionally, SMU won the C-USA title game, beating Kentucky 2–0 in Tulsa. This C-USA championship win is the sixth conference title for SMU since 1997.

The SMU men's soccer team finished the 2010 season with an overall record of 16-2-2. The Mustangs finished the season strong with a trip to the Elite Eight where they lost to University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in a penalty kick shootout.

In 2015, the Mustangs were led by first year head coach Kevin Hudson to the regular season American Athletic Conference title and reached the Round of 16 in the NCAA National Tournament where they were eliminated by Akron 2–1.

The Mustangs finished the 2017 season ranked No. 10 in the Top Drawer Soccer Rankings with an overall record of 17-3-1. They became the first program in American Athletic Conference history to claim the "double", winning both the regular season and conference tournament when they defeated the University of Central Florida 2–1 in Dallas. On January 20, 2018, SMU had two players selected in the 2018 MLS draft with Michael Nelson being selected by the Huston Dynamo with the 20th overall pick and Mauro Cichero being selected by FC Dallas with the 29th overall pick. SMU Defender Jordan Cano signed as a homegrown player for FC Dallas prior to the draft bringing the total to three players entering the MLS from the 2017 team.

In 2018, the Mustangs once again had a first round draft MLS Superdraft Selection as midfielder Emil Cuello was selected 19th overall by the LA Galaxy.

In 2019, the Mustangs claimed their third consecutive American Athletic Conference tournament title defeating Central Florida 1–0 in Orlando. This was the third consecutive year UCF and SMU meet in the AAC Tournament final as the Mustangs claimed their fifth conference title over the last three seasons. In 2017, the Mustangs reached the round of sixteen for the 18th time in program history. In 2017, they also became the first program in American Athletic Conference history to claim both the regular season and conference tournament championship, a feat they repeated in 2018 defeating Temple 2–1 in the final game of the regular season and defeating UCF in a shootout in Orlando in the AAC Tournament Final.

In 2020, the Mustangs had a player taken in the 1st round of the MLS Superdraft for the third consecutive year, as Garrett McLaughlin was selected 8th overall by the Houston Dynamo. Hermann Trophy winner and First-Team All American Eddie Munjoma was also signed to an MLS Homegrown contract by FC Dallas, while defender Phil Ponder was signed to a USL contract by North Texas SC. The Mustangs finished the 2020 campaign ranked at No. 5 in the TopDrawer Soccer Poll, No. 7 in the United Soccer Coaches Poll, and No. 3 in the NCAA RPI Index.

Stadium

Main article: Westcott Field

Built in 1994, Westcott Field is the home venue for the SMU Mustangs men's and women's soccer team. The stadium seats 4,000. In the spring of 2020, SMU announced a $5 Million dollar gift was given by SMU Alums Heather and Ray W. Washburne for the creation of the Washburn Soccer and Track Stadium. The 1,800 seat and 2,500 overall capacity facility will provide the Mustangs with one of the best college soccer stadiums in the country. ^[3]

Fans

Rivalries

While SMU is traditionally rivals with TCU, University of Texas at Austin, Texas A&M, Rice, University of Houston and UTEP, these fellow schools do not fund varsity soccer programs, thus hindering the rivalry on the soccer field for the Mustangs. SMU and TCU were rivals when TCU did field a team for many years. TCU's team was an NCAA Division 1 program up until the enforcement of Title IX in the late 1990s to early 2000s.

Due to the enforcement of Title IX, TCU lost their men's division 1 men's soccer program and it was converted to a club team only. TCU does continue to field a women's division 1 program. SMU and TCU played many battles throughout the years for the bragging rights of who was the stronger program in the Dallas/FT Worth metroplex. Generally, they would play one home and one away game against TCU per season. Some of the battles were very close but for the most part SMU was the stronger program due to the fact they had better funding for their soccer program (scholarship money) and thus were able to recruit higher level players. Currently, their main rivals in soccer due to geographic proximity are the Tulsa Golden Hurricane and Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas.

Players

Current roster

As of 12 Sep 2024 ^[4]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK   GER Jordaine Jaeger 2 DF   USA Brock Pope 3 DF   USA Owen Zarnick 4 DF   USA Cesar Ruvalcaba 5 DF   NOR Yves Vaage 6 MF   ESP Alex Salvo 7 DF   GER Kyran Chambron 8 MF   ISR Niv Berkovitz 10 FW   USA Bailey Sparks 11 FW   SWE Fredrik Skilberg 12 DF   USA Lamar Bynum 13 MF   USA Richard Garcia 14 DF   USA Enzo Panozzo 15 DF   USA Knobel Hunt 16 DF   USA Mason Grimm 17 MF   USA Jaylinn Mitchell 18 GK   USA Martin Dominguez

No. Pos. Nation Player 19 FW   USA Milton Lopez 20 MF   USA Nikola Djordjevic 21 MF   COL Daniel Escorcia 22 MF   USA Brendan Baird 23 DF   USA Jeffrey Koch 24 FW   USA Chris Deamon 25 MF   SWE Hannes Ottoson 26 MF   USA Ibrahim Keita 27 DF   USA Ryan Clanton 28 FW   USA Dominic Bartoni 29 GK   USA Cameron Victor 30 FW   USA Stephan Soghomonian 32 FW   USA Oliver Knotek 33 DF   USA Charlie Isphording 34 MF   USA Christian Chandler 36 MF   USA Noah Ervin 37 GK   USA Chance Johnson

Notable alumni

See also: Category:SMU Mustangs men's soccer players

Current professionals

As of March 10, 2025

• Chase Wileman (2003–206) – Currently head coach of Brown
• Michael Nelson (2013–2017) – Currently with FC Tulsa
• Emil Cuello (2015–2018) – Currently with Phoenix Rising FC
• Garrett McLaughlin (2016–2019) – Currently with Forward Madison FC
• Nicky Hernandez (2017–2019) – Currently with San Antonio FC
• Talen Maples (2017–2019) – Currently with New Mexico United
• Nick Taylor (2019–2021) – Currently with Svay Rieng and Cambodia international
• Bailey Sparks (2021–2024) – Currently with Inter Miami CF II
• Alexander Petræus (2022–2023) – Currently with Fremad Amager

Coaches

Current staff

As of 15 Sep 2024 ^[4]

Position	Name
Head Coach	Kevin Hudson
Assist. Coach	Michael King
Asssist. Coach	Ross Fitzpatrick
Assist. Coach, GK	Jaime Ibarra-Perez

All-time head coaches

Statistics correct as of the end of the 2018 NCAA Division I men's soccer season

#	Name	Season(s)	GC	OW	OL	OT	O%	CW	CL	CT	C%	PW	PL	PT	RCs	TCs
1	Jim Benedek	1975–1983	165	119	31	15	.767								6
2	Schellas Hyndman	1984–2007	504	368	96	40	.770								9	6
3	Tim McClements	2008–2014	130	68	46	16	.585								2	1
4	Kevin Hudson	2015–Present	77	66	22	10	.724

References

1. "SMU Licensing". SMUMustangs.com. June 8, 2016. Retrieved November 26, 2023.
2. 2024 Record Book on smumustangs.com
3. "Facilities: Westcott Field". Southern Methodist University Athletics. CBSSports.com College Network. Retrieved August 28, 2011.
4. Men's soccer rosters on smumustangs.com

External links

• Official website