After dropping their first two contests of the 2014 season on the road, the SMU Mustangs returned to Westcott Field on Friday and defeated Duke 3-1.

“We have a great young group and I felt like we competed against Michigan and Michigan State, but there were some things we needed to work on,” Head Coach Tim McClements said. “We got back at it in practice this week and took a look at Duke, and they’re a great team, and they’re the kind of team we like to play.”

The Mustangs benefitted early on from a first half goal courtesy of sophomore Stanton Garcia.

In the 35th minute, Garcia took a through ball from junior John Lujano into the 18-yard box and fired it into the lower right corner, just beyond the arms of Duke’s keeper Joe Ohaus. It was Garcia’s first collegiate goal.

Nine minutes later, Colten Habecker corralled a loose ball in the box and gave the Mustangs a 2-0 lead going into the half.

In the 80th minute, Duke ended and hopes SMU had of a shut-out when Nick Palodichuk found the back of the net from almost 40 yards out.

However, by that time SMU was already sitting comfortably in the lead after senior Andrew Morales converted a penalty shot in the 54th minute to give the Mustangs a 3-0 lead.

Redshirt first-year Abdul Yassine was fouled inside the 18-yard box to set up the penalty shot.

“We’re improving day-by-day and that’s our first goal of the season. Just making sure that we’re getting better every training session and every game,” McClements said. “We came out and gave it our best with a young group and had couple injuries this week and had to move some players around and we’re really proud of the way the guys responded.”

SMU now moves to 1-2 on the season while Duke falls to 1-1-1.

The Mustangs outshot the Blue Devils 15-9 during the match and 7-3 in shots on goals.

Last week, Redshirt first-year Michael Nelson, was named to the American Athletic Conference’s weekly honor roll. Nelson made two saves in goal for SMU.

The Mustangs have 17 freshman and sophomores on their roster this season, and the coaching staff knows that their will be growing pains with such a young group of players.

“We are going to make some youthful mistakes [as the season goes along and we understand that,” McClements said. “but we have to put the effort forth and that will really make the difference. We did that against Michigan state and we did that tonight and it was nice to get a victory.”

Up next for the Mustangs is the first day of the SMU Classic Sept. 12. SMU will play Missouri State at 7:30 p.m. for their first match of the tournament. Their second match is set for 7 p.m. Sept. 14 against Stony Brook. Live stats and video will be available at SMUMustangs.com.