Sept. 11, 2005

Box Score

DALLAS (SMU) - SMU's Jay Needham connected on a long free kick in the waning minutes of overtime to give the Mustangs a 2-1 overtime victory over South Florida at the 2005 SMU Radisson Hotel Classic Sunday at Westcott Field on the campus of SMU. Sunday's first game saw New Mexico defeating West Virginia by the score of 2-0, earning the Classic title.

In the first half, SMU looked to be in control of the game over the Bulls, but could not find the back of the net. Both teams went into the intermission with a scoreless game (0-0). In the second half, South Florida stepped up its defense and made SMU work for every offensive possession. But SMU sophomore Scott Corbin gave SMU a 1-0 lead at the 48:22 mark with a shot past Bull goalkeeper Dane Brenner. As the half wore on, the physical play by both teams elevated. With nearly five minutes remaining in regulation, USF's Blake Sharpe was issued a red card and the Bulls were down one player. But USF's Joris Claessens headed in a perfect free kick by Rodrigo Hidalgo at the 88:24 mark, sending the game into overtime. A Bull foul at the 25-yard mark gave SMU a free kick at the 96:40 mark and Needham fired a rocket that bended into the upper left corner of the net untouched, giving SMU the victory.

New Mexico scored early on the Mountaineers (9:01 mark) as defender Andrew Boyens back-tapped the ball into the net off a Lance Watson corner kick. West Virginia picked up the pace in the second half, but the Lobos added an insurance goal late (88:38 mark) from Jeff Rowland to insure the win for New Mexico.

The SMU Radisson Hotel Classic All-Tournament team consists of:

New Mexico: Ben Ashwill, Matt Wootton, Jeff Rowland, Josh Brown, and Andrew Boyens (MVP)
SMU: Jay Needham, Duke Hashimoto, Scott Corbin
West Virginia: Nick Noble, Devon McTavish
South Florida: Yohance Marshall, Jordan Seabrook