Carla Mendez | Staff Writer
The FIU men’s soccer team looks to protect their four-game win streak against the No. 3 SMU Mustangs on Sunday, Oct. 8, 2023 in Miami, Florida.
Holding a 6-2-2 record this season, FIU has had electrifying two-way play over their recent stretch of games, outscoring opponents 10-3 in four games.
After defeating the UAB Blazers and clinching their fourth American Athletic Conference victory in a row, the Panthers earned a spot in the NCAA Division I top 25 rankings.
In that game, they secured a 1-0 shutout victory and celebrated their first clean sheet in AAC play. Junior forward Eduardo Mustre scored his team’s only goal of the game off of an assist by graduate student forward Paulo Alves.
Mustre’s seventh goal of the season ties him for the most in the AAC and marks his fourth consecutive game with a goal.
From there, the Panthers locked-in and secured their defense play. The remainder of the match was even in shots, with nine attempts for FIU and eight from UAB.
Graduate student goalkeeper Tyler Hogan made a large contribution, recording a clean sheet and playing all 90 minutes.
SMU comes into the match with an 8-1-1 season record and a 3-0 record in the AAC.
Leading their team is graduate student forward Jelldrik Dallmann who has been named to the Hermann Trophy watch list, the most prestigious award in NCAA soccer.
This season, he has totaled eight goals on a 27.6% shooting percentage, with a 44.8% shot on goal percentage. Helping lead his team to an almost perfect record over ten games, he had a career-high three goals against Central Arkansas earlier this season.
When the two teams last met, the Mustangs took a 6-4 victory over FIU and claimed their eighth victory of the 10 game series.
Ready to clash with a highly-ranked opponent, the FIU men’s soccer team looks to protect home-field against the SMU Mustangs on Sunday, Oct. 8, 2023 in Miami, Florida.
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at the FIU Soccer Stadium and the game will be available for streaming on ESPN+.
Prediction:
FIU: 2
SMU: 1
Follow Carla Mendez on X: @carladfmendez
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