SAN ANTONIO – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros men's soccer fell to the UIW Cardinals, 2-1, Sunday at Gayle and Tom Benson Stadium.
The Vaqueros (2-3-2, 0-1-1 OVC) struck first in the 37
th minute as freshman
Victor van der Aa scored his first career goal off a corner kick delivered by senior
Malang Mandiang. Mandiang now leads the Vaqueros in assists after notching his third of the season.
The Cardinals (2-6-1, 1-2-0 OVC) received goals from
Emmanuel Martinez in the 57
th minute and
Diego Robles in the 86
th minute to secure the victory.
Juan Monrreal tallied the Cardinals lone assist of the match on Martinez's goal. Meanwhile, goalkeeper
Victor Salmerron kept the Cardinals in the match with three first half saves and tallied six total in the match.
In that 37th minute, the Vaqueros lined up for their sixth corner kick of the night. Mandiang delivered a laser from the right corner to the near post, where the awaiting van der Aa punched it into the bottom right corner for the 1-0 lead.
Salmeron recorded three saves in the first half, including a shot from junior
Alvaro Abeal in the 26th minute, UTRGV's first shot on goal of the match.
Four minutes later, senior
Mouhamed Pouye put up a shot on frame, and in the 35
th minute, junior
Elias Taj just missed a powerful shot.
UTRGV maintained constant pressure throughout the first 45 minutes, earning seven corner kicks and attempting 10 shots, including four on goal. Meanwhile, UIW attempted just two shots, both off target.
The Cardinals flipped the script in the second half, taking advantage of the Vaqueros' aggression to create counterattack opportunities.
UIW generated nine shots in the second half to the Vaqueros four and forced UTRGV goalkeeper
Conrad Knight to make three saves in the second frame.
The Vaqueros could not overcome the late deficit as they dropped their first match in OVC play.
For the match, UTRGV outshot UIW 14-11 with a 6-3 advantage on goal while generating 11 corners to the Cardinals one.
UTRGV will travel to St. Louis to take on the reigning OVC champions, Lindenwood, for the second time this season on Thursday. In their previous matchup, the Vaqueros battled to a 0-0 draw in Edinburg.
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