The Independent Voice of Southern Methodist University Since 1915

The Daily Campus

The Daily Campus

The Independent Voice of Southern Methodist University Since 1915

The Daily Campus

The Independent Voice of Southern Methodist University Since 1915

The Daily Campus

SMUs Tyreek Smith dunks as the Mustangs run up the scoreboard against Memphis in Moody Coliseum.
SMU finds new head coach for men’s basketball
Brian Richardson, Contributor • March 28, 2024
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Men take overtime home victory, women lose to Baylor, 2-1

A painted mural in Dallas.
Meredith Carey
A painted mural in Dallas.

Freshman Eddie Puskarich (Sidney Hollingsworth/The Daily Campus)

Men

It was a wet night at Westcott Field on Friday when the Mustangs defeated Oakland University 1-0 in an intense overtime thriller.

Freshman Leobardo Vazquez scored the winning goal to put SMU at 3-2-1 for the season.

The game was close as both teams seemed to be playing tight. It was difficult to tell whether or not the rain affected the Mustangs game plan as the team seemed to play most of the first half in a defensive frame of mind.

“We actually like to play in the rain,” head coach Tim McClements said. “We feel it helps our style of play. It does make for a nervous game but I thought that the rain really wasn’t that big of a factor.”

Early on, Tyler Engel broke through Oakland defense and sent a ball creeping towards the goal but an opponent made the save inches from the line to keep the game scoreless.

The game seemed to be in jeopardy in the 80th minute when Oakland’s Johnny Dreshaj hit the ground inside of the box, earning him a penalty kick. Dreshaj tried to go right with it but goalkeeper Jaime Ibarra anticipated the move and made a diving save to deflect the ball. Team captain TJ Nelson was there to clear it out.

“I saw him take two stutter steps and I figured he was going right,” Ibarra said. “Luckily TJ [Nelson] was there to clear it out.”

The game-winning goal came in the 95th minute off a feed from Andrew Morales to Vazquez who shook a defender and the goalie, bringing the fans to their feet as the Mustangs won. The goal was Vazquez’s first career game-winner.

The Mustangs finished up the SMU Classic against UC Davis on Sunday.

Women

With only seconds left, Shelby Redman fired a 30-yard strike to give SMU the win over TCU Sept. 7.

Friday night against undefeated Baylor, it seemed as though Redman would continue her heroics in Waco, Texas, but the Bears proved unable to weather the Mustang’s rally and come away with the 2-1 win in overtime.

“It’s disappointing,” head coach Chris Petrucelli told SMU athletics. “We could have come out with at least a tie. We were in it and just let down there at the end.”

Redman brought the score to 1-1 in the 87th minute off a corner kick from Courtney Smith, who picked up her fifth assist of the year and is No. 22 in the nation in assists per game.

Baylor put pressure on the Mustangs’ defense all game long; The Bears outshot SMU 17-2 in the first half alone. By the end of the game the Bears had twice as many shots on goal as the Mustangs.

Despite the relentless attacks by Baylor SMU did not relinquish a goal until the 61st minute.

Goalkeeper Lauryn Bodden had a career-high six saves on the night.

The Mustangs, 3-4, returned to Westcott field for the first time in three weeks to face Oklahoma Sunday. 

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