CARY, N.C. (SMU) – No. 25 SMU Men's Soccer is set to take on Syracuse in its Atlantic Coast Conference Championship semifinal match at First Horizon Stadium at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, N.C., on Thursday.

This will be SMU's second meeting with Syracuse this season. The match will kick off at 7 pm CT and will be aired on ACCN.

The Mustangs advanced in the tournament after winning 1-0 at No. 7 Stanford in the quarterfinal round.

Mustangs vs. Orange History

• This will be the second meeting between SMU and Syracuse.
• Their first and only meeting was on Oct. 11 at Syracuse when the hosts won 2-0.

Talking Stats

• Stephan Soghomonian is SMU's leading goalscorer with 11 goals.
• Villads Landsperg has played the most minutes for SMU this season, with 1525 minutes in 17 matches. He's only missed five game minutes all season and played full 90 minutes in 16 matches.

Regular Season Rematch

• SMU played at Syracuse on Oct. 11. The Orange won 2-0.
• The Mustangs dominated 57 percent of the possession and outshot Syracuse 10 to six in its prior meeting.

Postseason Awards

• SMU has three players who earned All-ACC honors.
• Slade Starnes and Stephan Soghomonian were named in the Second Team All-ACC.
• Charles-Emile Brunet was named in the Third Team All-ACC.

Postseason Notes

• SMU has won 10 conference tournament titles.
• The Mustangs have made the quarterfinals in their first two ACC Championships. They were eliminated by Wake Forest in the quarterfinal round on a penalty shootout in their first season.
• This is the Mustangs' first ACC Championship semifinals appearance.

Stepped Up

• Stephan Soghomonian leads SMU with 11 goals this season.
• He was named ACC Offensive Player of the Week on Oct. 7 and Oct. 21.
• He is the ACC's second top scorer in conference play with six goals against ACC teams in the regular season.
• Soghomonian has scored 10 goals in eight matches. Scored a hat trick against California (Oct. 3) and Boston College (Oct. 18).
• He became the first Mustang to score a hat trick after almost two years in the Mustangs' 4-0 win against Cal on Oct. 3.
• The previous Mustang to score a hat trick was Jelldrik Dallmann against Temple on Nov. 9, 2023.
• He scored his hat trick against Cal from the bench with only 44 minutes of play time.

Slade Bosses The Backline

• Slade Starnes was named ACC Defensive Player of the Week twice on Sep. 30 and Oct. 28.
• He captained the Mustangs' defensive line to shutout and hand No. 1 Stanford its first draw and loss at home this season.
• He and the Mustangs' backline have contained opponents to an average of only 8.6 shot attempts per game. Limiting five teams (Boston College, Cal, LMU, Oral Roberts and Virginia) to five shot attempts or less.

SMU vs Top 25 Opponents

• SMU is 2-1-3 against Top-25 teams this season.
• The Mustangs are coming off a win at No. 7 Stanford.
• SMU grabbed its first ranked win at No. 21 Notre Dame (Sep. 27).
• The Mustangs drew 1-1 against No. 2 Clemson and they also drew No. 18 Kansas City 2-2 to kick off the season.
• SMU was 4-3-3 against top 25 opponents last season after falling in the NCAA Quarterfinals to No. 8 Marshall.

Scouting Syracuse

• Syracuse defeated No. 3 seed NC State 3-0 to advance to the ACC Championship semifinals.
• Carlos Zambrano leads the Orange with five goals and three assists this season.

FIFA World Cup At Washburne Stadium

• Washburne Stadium will be an official training ground for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.