Two years into its time in the conference, SMU will play in the ACC Men's Soccer Championship final following its second five-goal outburst of the tournament.

Coming off a 5-4 win against Wake Forest in the first round and a 1-0 victory against Stanford in the quarterfinal, the Mustangs defeated Syracuse 5-1 in Thursday's semifinal.

SMU went into the game with a plan of attack and was able to execute it at a high level.

"There was a clear plan against Syracuse because of the way they defend. It's man-v-man all over the field," SMU Head Coach Kevin Hudson said. "The idea was pretty simple, really … And, they executed quite well (on Thursday). It took us a while to find the goals, but I thought we were on top of it, pretty much, from the start."

After some early back-and-forth, the Mustangs started to take control of the game, but it wasn't until the 38th minute that they would finally break through. Jaylinn Mitchell carried the ball into the box and laid it off for Mukisa Emmanuel, who calmly finished.

The lead would double less than a minute before the halftime break as Mitchell again delivered, this time a pass across the box to Ryan Clanton-Pimentel for his first career goal. And then just five minutes into the second half, Charles-Emile Brunet finished off a set piece as Stephan Soghomonian delivered the corner and Slade Starnes got it back in front of the goal.

"To get the second just before halftime is a big boost, and it can give you a lot of juice going to the second half, and it's kind of deflating for the opponent," Hudson said. "And then to quickly come out the second half and nip one really early. It wasn't to bed then, but we were in a good spot."

Things got even better as Soghomonian scored a goal of his own, and then Landon Hickam scored his second goal of the tournament to put it away with eight minutes to go.

Syracuse would get on the board with a penalty in the 85th minute, but it was another strong defensive performance from the Mustangs after shutting out Stanford in the quarterfinal.

"I thought we were really sharp outside of a few moments that we got. Human nature is to get a little careless and a little lackadaisical, or, I don't want to use the word arrogant, but a little casual, maybe, in the moments where you're completely on top of things," Hudson said. "It takes a really disciplined mentality in order to continue to do the same thing no matter what. The back line was really good again. (Alex) Salvo had another good performance. I thought Charles-Emile Brunet was really good defensively. Both wingbacks did a good job, and that back three that we have is immense. Martin (Dominguez), another really solid performance."

SMU opened the season 3-2-3 but has now won seven of its last 10. The team has grown together, into their roles and keeps getting better. 

Out of the three games SMU didn't win in the last 10, two were against Syracuse and Stanford, whom they have now beaten in the ACC tournament.

"From where this team was in the middle of August to now," Hudson said. "... It's a really fun group to coach because they're probably the most tactically astute team we've had. They just really want to learn, and they can take information really well and play multiple ways. So when you ask questions of them, and you give them ideas about how you want to defend or how you want to build, they're really cerebral in how they see it, and they ask great questions. So yeah, immense growth. They're a really fun group to be around. They're hungry, but they're humble, good kids." 

Now they face another recent foe, Virginia, in the final. The Cavaliers won the regular season title, in part thanks to a 1-0 win against SMU in Dallas in the regular season finale. 

The Mustangs will get another chance on Sunday, this time with the chance to win a conference title themselves. In just its second season in the ACC, that's not something SMU takes for granted.

"Look, there are wild challenges in this league, and, shoot, we can finish 15th next year," Hudson said. "But to be able to build what we have, we have wonderful history and tradition in Dallas with this program. We have great support from our administration and the university. So to compete the way we do, it's a lot of fun to be a part of it. And I'm really proud, not only as a coach, but as an alum, as a guy who played here, played for SMU 25 years ago, to where the program is right now. We're in, I feel, a very good moment with a healthy program. So as the steward of the program right now, I'm proud of what these boys are doing."

SMU has won 10 conference tournaments during its time in the WAC, Missouri Valley Conference, Conference USA and the American Athletic Conference, but this will be its first chance to win one in the ACC. It would be SMU's first ACC title in any sport as the men's soccer team joins the football team in playing for a conference championship.

"To think of the emotions of, like, 'Oh, man, we're about to go to the best league in the country,' to come in and acquit ourselves relatively well last year, and now to be in a final this year," Hudson said. "I think it shows the strength of the program and the history and belief and the quality of the players and people we have. Yeah, to be in this moment is neat. Trophies are the goal of any program, and to have a chance to lift a trophy in our second year within this league, it's nice."