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DALLAS — Utah Valley's first foray into the NCAA men's soccer tournament came to an end Thursday night.
Brenden Lee had a goal and an assist to help host SMU to a 2-0 win over the Wolverines at Westcott Field in Dallas.
The Wolverines (14-6-2), who were playing in their first-ever NCAA tournament match in just the second year of the program, started the match right with two shots in the first 15 minutes, but Mustang goalkeeper Michael Nelson made a pair of saves to keep the hosts level.
"I thought we were fantastic tonight," Utah Valley coach Greg Maas said in a release from the school. "It's our first opportunity in the NCAA Tournament and I couldn't be more proud of our effort.
"We created a lot of chances that gave us a lot of hope, but we were just a little bit short in a couple of opportunities."
Lee opened the scoring for SMU (14-2-4) midway through the first half, putting in a rebound after teammate Mauro Cichero's shot was blocked in the 24th minute to give the Mustangs a 1-0 lead at halftime.
Utah Valley's Karson Payton nearly equalized in the first 10 minutes of the second half. The Timpview product took a 54th-minute strike at Nelson, but the SMU keeper cleaned it up with his third save of the match.
Lee started the play for the final score of the night just over five minutes later, crossing a ball to Stanton Garcia in the 61st minute. Garcia slipped a backheel flick into the six-yard box, and Idrissa Camara rounded his defender to slot home the goal that doubled the Mustangs' advantage.
Nic Harguindeguy nearly pulled one back for the Wolverines just minutes after entering as a second-half substitute. But his 67th-minute shot from the edge of the box that dipped inside the far post was called back for offside.
SMU nearly out-shot the Wolverines, 12-11 on the night with a 7-6 advantage in the second half.
The Mustangs advance to face No. 13 Denver on Sunday.
Utah Valley returns all but one of its players next season, with defender Tyler Brown the only senior on this year's roster and only the second senior in program history.
