Oct. 26, 2007
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MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The Memphis men's soccer team heads to Dallas, Texas, today for its last match against nationally ranked opposition in No. 2 SMU. The Mustangs hold the second spot in Soccer America's top-25 and the No. 6 ranking in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America's (NSCAA) top-25 while the Tigers enjoyed a brief stint in the Soccer America ranking and now are receiving votes from the NSCAA and SoccerTimes.com polls.
SMU (10-2-2, 5-0-1 C-USA) sit atop the Conference USA standings while riding a nine-game unbeaten streak and a six-game winning streak into tomorrow match against Memphis. The Mustangs two losses came at the hands of two top-25 teams in one weekend. They lost to the defending national champions, then No. 9 UC Santa Barbara on Sept. 14 and then dropped Sunday's match to No. 24 Washington at the NIKE/Crescent Financial Institutions Invitational in Albuquerque, N.M.
Memphis (8-2-4, 2-0-3 C-USA) has managed a loss and a draw against top-25 teams. In a Friday-Sunday double header that saw the team in Tulsa, Okla., and then back in Memphis, the Tigers drew a 3-3 double overtime tie at No. 14 Tulsa before dropping Sunday's match to No. 10 Creighton.
Saturday's match, which features two elite teams from the Midwest region where SMU holds the top spot and Memphis is No. 4, behind both No. 14 Tulsa and No. 8 Creighton, will showcase two teams with strikingly similar numbers.
Aside from the same number in the loss column, these two teams have fared similarly throughout the season and against common opposition.
SMU has scored 32 goals and conceded 14 this year to the Tigers' 28-14 scoring ratio. Along with Tulsa, both teams are leaders in multiple C-USA scoring categories, including shots, goals and assists and in defensive categories, sharing the league lead in goals allowed and goals against average (0.94).
The bulk of the Mustangs' attack is provided by a pair of junior midfielders, Bruno Guarda and Richard Oliva, who have combined for 13 goals so far this year, but a total of 12 Mustangs have found the back of the net and six have scored at least twice.
Jared Britcher and Kevin Walsh have presented the main scoring threat for Memphis with a combined 10 goals this year. In all, 13 Tigers have notched a score and six have scored at least twice.
Memphis has not beaten SMU in the teams' four-game history, including a 3-0 affair last season.
Kickoff is scheduled for 7:00 pm tomorrow at Westcott Field in Dallas, Texas.
