SAN ANTONIO – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros men's soccer team punched its ticket to the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Tournament by closing out the regular season with a 2-1 victory over the Incarnate Word Cardinals on Saturday at Gayle & Tom Benson Stadium.
 
The Vaqueros (8-8-0, 5-5-0 WAC) enter the WAC Tournament as the No. 6 seed and will face the No. 3 seed in the opening round on Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. at GCU Stadium on the campus of Grand Canyon. Fans can watch in the United States on ESPN+ or internationally on the WAC Digital Network.
 
Graduate student Yusuf Cueceoglu got the Vaqueros on the board 80 seconds into the match on a penalty kick for his sixth goal of the season. 
 
The Cardinals (5-10-2, 4-6-1 WAC) tied the match last in the first half on an Eduardo Perez goal.
 
Early in the second half, sophomore IDEA Toros alum Jose Cantu sent a 30-yard pass to Walkes in the box. Walkes passed to himself to get to the right of a defender and then found the near corner of the net to make the score 2-1.
 
The Cardinals outshot the Vaqueros 9-6, including 4-2 on goal. The Vaqueros held a 7-5 advantage on corner kicks.
 
Senior Oliver Padilla (5-5-0) finished with three saves while UIW goalie Charles Beck (3-4-0) didn't record a save. 

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