EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros men's soccer team used four second half goals to down the University of Southern Indiana (USI) Screaming Eagles for their first Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) win in program history Thursday at Strassweg Field.
Leading the charge for the Vaqueros (3-4-3, 1-2-2 OVC) was fifth year captain
Elias Taj who scored two goals off the bench in the second half, including the game-winning penalty kick goal in the 86
th minute. Fifth year
Eduardo De Oliveira finished with a goal and an assist on the night. Senior
Mouhamed Pouye tacked on his fourth goal of the season. This is the first time UTRGV has scored four goals in a conference match since scoring five against Air Force in 2024.
The Screaming Eagles (1-8-4, 1-4-1 OVC) had a pair of goals from
Ian Graham while
Jimmy Murphy had the other goal.
Kadiri Bello, Edin Cvorovic, and
Isaac Weidner were credited with assists in the match.
The Vaqueros applied some pressure early in the match including a great setup on a long pass by junior
Ruben Cooper in the defensive half to sophomore junior
Alvaro Abeal just outside the box. Abeal's ensuing cross to De Oliveira connected, but the header missed wide left of the net.
The Screaming Eagles took the lead with goals in the 27
th and 28
th minute.
UTRGV's defense tightened up following the two goals as it held USI without a shot for the remainder of the half.
The Vaqueros had a promising chance in the 60
th minute when De Oliveira found sophomore
Sammy Jadid at the top of the box but the touch was too strong and the keeper scooped it up. In the 64
th minute, Abeal found De Oliveira who touched it along to Taj for the right-footed finish that brought UTRGV within one.
Following a short corner in the 70
th minute,
Victor van der Aa crossed a ball into the middle of the box to the head of De Oliveira who directed it into the upper right corner to tie the match at 2-2.
UTRGV took the lead in the 77
th minute when a cross by senior
Mouhamed Pouye was deflected in to make it 3-2. Three minutes later, Graham ripped a shot from outside the box that found the netting and tied the match at 3-3.
With just under five minutes to play, Jadid dribbled to the edge of the box and was fouled resulting in a penalty kick. Taj stepped up and finished it into the bottom right corner for the 4-3 lead.
In the match, UTRGV outshot USI 20-15 with a 10-6 advantage in shots on goal. The Vaqueros generated nine corner kicks to the Screaming Eagles' three.
UTRGV will visit SIUE for another OVC match on Sunday, Oct. 18 at 1 p.m. Fans can watch live on
ESPN+.
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