RIO GRANDE VALLEY – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley men's soccer team defeated the St. Mary's Rattlers 2-1 in an exhibition game played at Brownsville Veterans Memorial High School in front of 200 fans on Saturday. 
 
The Vaqueros and the crowd were energized by the UTRGV Drumline in attendance, creating a memorable atmosphere for the preseason contest. 
 
"Having the band out was exciting, the enthusiasm from them and the energy they bring. The guys were flying around because of what they're doing, then you mix in a good crowd. Brownsville always shows up and they're obviously educated in the game. It was great and I can't wait to come out again," head coach Bryheem Hancock said. 
 
The Vaqueros came out attacking and created scoring chances early. After two shots went off the left post, the third time was the charm to get UTRGV on top 1-0 in the 11^th minute. Freshman Kgodiso Sukati sent one off the post that ricochet right to graduate student Yusuf Cueceoglu, who sent it past the Rattlers goalkeeper to the back left corner of the net. 
 
St. Mary's evened things up at 1-1 midway through the first half off a penalty kick by Deni Cresto. 
 
The Sukati-Cueceoglu connection struck again three minutes later to give the Vaqueros a 2-1 advantage. Sukati found Cueceoglu streaking to the goal, and the midfielder from Cologne, Germany buried the ball in the right side of the goal.
 
UTRGV changed the lineup in the second half, giving a variety of student-athletes playing time in the exhibition. St. Mary's applied significant pressure in the second half and was in full attack mode, but the Vaqueros defense held up to the challenge.
 
Freshman goalkeeper Alexis Gonzalez, a Brownsville native, drew appreciation from the crowd as he made some good defensive plays. Gonzalez had a big save in the 69^th minute to maintain UTRGV's victory. Graduate student and Brownsville native Garret Wild got the start in goal and made a leaping save, sending a shot on goal by the Rattlers off the crossbar. 
 
"I thought we did a good job in the first half. We created a ton of chances. Our guys did a good job controlling the tempo," Hancock said. "I told the guys it wasn't going to be perfect, but we got to see everybody play today which was important for us to get game minutes against an opponent."  
 
The Vaqueros open the regular season on Aug. 25 with a 4 p.m. home match against Bryant.