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(RV) SMU (2-1-2, 0-1-0 ACC) vs. Cal (2-3-0, 0-1-0 ACC)
Edwards Stadium - Berkeley, Calif.
Friday, Sep. 13 | 6 p.m. (CT)
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DALLAS - (RV) SMU men's soccer team is putting last week's ACC opener behind them and focused on its first trip out west this season to face Cal at 6 p.m. CT on Friday.

"There's not an easy game in this league, so if we're hoping to find somebody that's going to just roll over on us we're crazy," SMU head coach Kevin Hudson said. "So yeah, it's not going to be easy. It's different than it was in games we knew we were going to win, or at least we knew once we were up one or two goals. … This is a new animal. One poor result doesn't sour the excitement for what is to come, by any means."

It didn't take long for SMU to open its ACC account as reigning conference Offensive Player of the Week Jaylinn Mitchell scored in the seventh minute. Bailey Sparks set Mitchell up with his third assist of the season.

It was Mitchell's second goal in as many games to go with an assist this season.

"The last two weeks he's been very good. He's maturing in front of our eyes," Hudson said of Mitchell. "You know, he was a boy last year and had some really magical moments, because he's really talented. But now he's growing and we're seeing the fruits of that labor. His maturation is nice to see. We challenged him to be tougher and to ride some challenges and to be more assertive in how he defends and he's embraced that. Jaylinn has been a bright spot for us. He deserved the goal and continues to create good chances for us."

"I just told them that they're good enough to win these games," Hudson said. "There's enough in this group to win games in this league. And it's not going to be easy. We're not going to be able to play for 55 minutes. We're going to have to find ways to play for 90 minutes. I mean, Pitt's a very good team, really well coached and they play good football. We're in that match and we are rightfully up and I think we have enough in this group to find ways to score more and to win these games."

The next task for the Mustangs is a trip to face the Golden Bears. It's the first meeting between the two teams since 2008, but traveling is nothing new for the SMU program. The Mustangs have taken multiple trips to the state of California over the past few years. 

"We've been to California a bunch of times. We're used to the travel," Hudson said. "Going to California is no different than we used to go to Connecticut, we used to go to Temple, we used to go to Miami. It's a plane ride. It's three hours on a plane, we'll get there and we'll adjust and we'll wake up the next day and play a game."

One thing the trip to California does provide is some time leading up to it. Hudson said the players and the coaches got away for a day and then get back together and regroup. Then it's time to get back on the field.

"I'm not exactly sure what the button is at the moment, but there is plenty of talent, belief and grit within the group in order to win big games like this," Hudson said. "So we have to find a way to see it further than we did. … We're 2-1-2 and we've played a lot of really good teams. There's a bright future for this group. We'll lick our wounds here, but there will be better from this group, for sure."