The SMU men’s soccer team opened conference play against the No. 14 UCF Golden Knights Saturday night loosing 4-2.

A season-high crowd of 1,567 watched the Mustangs in action including soon to be retired SMU mascot Peruna.

“This is the environment that the boys want to play in,” Coach

Tim McClements said.

Two Mustangs players were forced to sit out the game.

Senior Diogo de Almeida hit the locker room a little earlier than the rest of the squad, after getting a red card late in the match last Sunday against UCLA.

Freshman Emmet Kumeh status is still unknown why he never played Saturday night.

SMU Junior Ben Hill and freshman Damien Rosales each scored a point for the Mustangs.

Hill’s goal came just before halftime with a header assisted by junior T.J. Nelson and senior Arthur Ivo.

The second Mustang goal came in the 74th minute, when Rosales had a point blank shot assisted by sophomore Juan Castillo.

“I have a lot of confidence in my team,” Hill said. “It gave us a little bit more hunger.”

We also saw great goalkeeping skills throughout the game.

When the Knights opened shooting in the 33rd minute.

SMU goalkeeper Jaime Ibarra posted an excellent save.

However, it was only two minutes after the save the Knights responded with rapid fire.

UCF’s Eduardo Jimenez doubled the score after taking a cross from the right side and striking a solid goal.

Sophomore McKauly Tulloch scored two second-half goals for the Knights to seal the win for the Knights.

“We are obviously disappointed with the results,” Coach McClements said.”I’m really proud of the way our guys fought back. It generated a lot of opportunities and unfortunately they didn’t fall are way.”

After their loss, the Mustangs record fell to 5-4 and 0-1 in Conference USA.

SMU will start a three game Conference USA road trip this week and look to improve their record.

First stop for the Mustangs will be Tulsa on Wednesday at 7 p.m.

The Mustangs will also travel to Huntington, W. Va. to face Marshall next Saturday and in Colombia, S.C. to play the University of South Carolina on Oct. 12.