Friday's match against Stanford was the fourth match the SMU men's soccer team has played against a Top 10 team this season. There have been two others against Top 20 programs.

That's the new normal for the Mustangs. But it's not really all that new.

That's the expectation for players when they sign up to play for head coach Kevin Hudson at SMU. Big matches, big moments and big results.

"I don't think they've handled it any different," Hudson said. "The reason they come here and the reason they play for this program is they want to play in matches like this."

SMU hosted alumni on Friday, honoring the former players at halftime. The crowd totaled over 1,500. That is something the players will remember and take with them long after their playing time is over.

"There are matches that we play in the season that, I told them before the match, there are certain matches you play within your career that you remember," Hudson said. "It was alumni night tonight and what a crowd. The best crowd I've seen in a long time, a bunch of alums here. And I said, this is probably a match that in 40 years, if you're at an alumni night and you're sitting in the stands, you're probably going to talk to your boys about. Like, 'I remember when we played Stanford' and what happened and all that. Look, it didn't end perfectly for us, but what a cool memory and what a great opportunity for these guys to play in front of a crowd like that. It was a neat night."

It's not just about playing in those types of matches. It's about getting the right result. After the Mustangs climbed back from a 1-0 deficit to take the 2-0 lead, it was disappointing to 'just' tie the No. 5 team in the country.

"Feels like a loss, honestly, if you come back like that," senior Kyran Chambron Pinho said. "... I take any match as it is. We have some more ranked matches now, maybe, but we're trying to play and win."

In the six matches against ranked opponents, SMU is 2-1-3. The one loss came against current No. 1 Pittsburgh. Three of those Top 10 matches came in a row, capped by the match against Pitt. The Mustangs have then played back-to-back Top 20 matches at No. 16 Duke and against No. 5 Stanford.

The Mustangs are used to playing tough schedules and good teams, but this is different animal.

"Look, we've played some really good teams this year. This league asks some really good questions of us," Hudson said. "We are much better tested for October and whatever may be going forward this year than we ever have been. That's a draw against a really good team, a team that is ranked fifth, doesn't really matter, but they're a team that's in the RPI, easily, in the Top 5. 

"It's not a result we should hang our head about by any means, we should be proud of the effort it took for us to find a goal and then to score the go-ahead goal. Disappointed to give up an equalizer, but the end of the day, these guys should hold their head pretty high walking off the field here."

It is still a tough one to take after scoring twice in less than four minutes to take a lead with 13 minutes left. Some matches sit longer with Chambron Pinho anyway.

"The 24 hour rule is kind of hard for me," he said. "Because I start thinking about, I feel I start thinking about the next match when it's closer. And after tough matches like that, I think about it for maybe 25 hours."

Chambron Pinho was the key to SMU's comeback. His individual brilliance was on display as his set piece goal tied the match in the 74th minute. He then delivered the corner kick shortly after to give the Mustangs the short-lived lead.

"I think it became part of my game," Chambron Pinho said of taking free kicks and corners. "I train it too and I know I'm dangerous. So after the free kick, I know I can make it, even if it's a cross. I saw the goalie a little bit standing off, so I was like, either it's going in or someone heads it in. The same thing with the corner, I tried to whip the ball in, and I'm saying to myself, either I'll make it, or someone else makes it."

There is a confidence that comes with being 'the guy' for set pieces. But that is something born of the work Chambron Pinho has put in and the results he continues to get.

"Kyran serves, he doesn't just serve a good ball, he serves a wonderful ball," Hudson said. "The pace he puts on it and where he puts it. It's got so much power on it, you just got to get in the way of it. So, yeah, it's an absolute weapon. He serves. He takes great pride and he hits a ton of free kicks after training and he works on it. You're not going to take him off free kicks, by any means, because he can put the ball in a dangerous spot. And then, as you saw on the goal, he's got the confidence to strike it from anywhere."

The Mustangs aren't lacking confidence as a whole, either. They came back from a two-goal deficit to earn a tie at Duke and played Stanford to a tie. There are plenty of other results against tough teams, too.

The Mustangs will try to get back into the win column on Tuesday in the final non-conference contest of the season as Central Arkansas comes to town. 

"Just got to start winning again," Chambron Pinho said. "I mean, I'm always motivated, but especially after a match like this, with a tough tie and the second one in a row, we've got to bounce back."