Southern Methodist’s Duke Hashimoto celebrates the Mustang’s overtime upset of No. 4 North Carolina, which sent them into a semifinal game with the Terps.

By Daniel Chiat

Senior staff writer

On the surface, unseeded Southern Methodist’s improbable run through the NCAA tournament to earn a spot in the College Cup is remarkable.

After winning a first-round home game against San Francisco, the Mustangs (14-5-3) packed their bags and pulled off road upsets of No. 5 UCLA, UNC Greensboro and No. 4 North Carolina to secure their second-ever College Cup appearance – drawing a matchup with the No. 1-seeded Terrapins Friday.

But because of what they have overcome throughout the season, the Mustangs’ accomplishments are downright extraordinary.

The problems for SMU began prior to the season, when a starting midfielder from 2004 unexpectedly left the team for personal reasons two days before fall practice. Then, an even-larger issue arose when coach Schellas Hyndman learned his leading scorer, junior Alex Smith, played for professional teams in England during the summer.

Instead of trying brush the situation under the table, Hyndman informed the NCAA of Smith’s transgressions and proposed an eight-game suspension for his star player, who tallied 13 goals in 2004. But the NCAA instead stripped Smith of his college eligibility, leaving SMU without its top scorer.

“The thing that disappointed us is that we came completely clean and didn’t withhold any information,” Hyndman said. “It hurt us a lot because he was our leading scorer. Imagine if [Maryland] didn’t have Jason Garey.”

The early results reflected SMU’s off-the-field troubles. In their first two games, it was outscored a combined 8-1 against Notre Dame and Indiana in the Adidas/IU Credit Union Classic.

The Mustangs lost another scholarship player soon after when he walked into Hyndman’s office one day and quit.

“As a coach, I looked at that and said all of the wheels on the wagon were falling off,” Hyndman said.

When SMU fell to 2-4-1, dropping a 2-0 decision to No. 2-ranked New Mexico Sept. 23, the team held a closed-door meeting during which players stressed the need for team unity. The Mustangs went on to tie a solid Creighton team before topping Alabama-Birmingham and dramatically defeating Memphis on a goal with 13 seconds remaining.

“It seemed the ball was bouncing right for us and the players started thinking, ‘Hey we can do this,'” Hyndman said.

Following those two victories, SMU rattled off six more in a row and won the Conference USA regular-season championship with an 8-1 record. Despite tying Tulsa in the conference tournament quarterfinals and failing to advance on penalty kicks, the Mustangs received a first-round home game.

After shocking the Bruins in Los Angeles, SMU found success in North Carolina twice. The Mustangs will have another shot for glory there this weekend because the College Cup is in Cary, N.C.

“They are one best stories in college soccer,” Terp coach Sasho Cirovski said. “They have a lot of quality players and one of the best coaches in college soccer in Schellas.”

Despite losing three contributing players, SMU senior leaders David Chun and Kellan Zindel along with Hyndman pulled the team together and into college soccer’s spotlight.

“I’ve coached better teams,” Hyndman said. “But I’ve never had a team that played with as much confidence and played for each other.”

Contact reporter Daniel Chiat at chiatdbk@gmail.com.