The ACC Championship run for Sachiel Ming and his No. 6-seed Syracuse Orange men's soccer team came to a crashing end as they fell heavily, 5-1, to the No. 7-seed and No. 25-ranked Southern Methodist University (SMU) Mustangs in the Semi-Final Round.
The defeat marks the Orange's largest loss of the season and eliminates them from the conference tournament. Syracuse now waits to find out if they will receive a bid for the NCAA Tournament.
The No. 25 team in the nation, SMU, dictated the tempo and controlled the game, outshooting Syracuse 17 to nine.
The Mustangs opened the scoring in the 38th minute when Mukisa Emmanuel sent the ball past Syracuse goalkeeper Tomas Hut, capitalizing on an assist from Jaylinn Mitchell. Just seven minutes later, in the final minute of the half, Ryan Clanton-Pimentel scored his first goal for SMU to make it 2-0 at the break.
SMU’s attack, particularly their wingbacks, tormented the Syracuse defense throughout the match.
Any hopes of a Syracuse comeback were quickly dashed in the final half:
Charles-Emile Brunet scored in the 50th minute.
Stephan Soghomonian scored his 12th goal of the season in the 60th minute to make it 4-0.
Landon Hickman finished SMU's reign in the 83rd minute when he was able to net the ball off an assist from Clanton-Pimentel, making it 5-0.
Syracuse finally got on the board late. Junior Nathan Scott was awarded a penalty kick and slotted the ball past Mustang goalkeeper Martin Dominguez in the 85th minute to make the final score 5-1.
The dominant win sends SMU to its first-ever ACC Championship final, where they will face Virginia.
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