RIO GRANDE VALLEY – In the last 10 minutes, the crowd of 358 was silenced as the Stetson (SU) Hatters pulled ahead 1-0, but Vaqueros sophomore
Sammy Jadid delivered an equally stunning equalizer in the 88
th minute to force a 1-1 draw Sunday.
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros (1-0-1) men's soccer team earned one point against the Hatters in their home opener during the Sunday morning match at UTRGV Soccer and Track & Field Complex.
In the waning minutes of the match, Jadid received the deep ball from sophomore
Jonah Gasho. In a sea of four green jerseys, Jadid found the trailing freshman
Matheo Mondy just outside the box. Mondy passed it back to Jadid who centered a delivered a screaming shot off his left foot to the bottom right corner of the goal.
The Hatters (0-1-1) got on the board after a corner kick rattled in the box and was buried into the net by
William Mills in the 81
st minute.
In the first half, neither offense generated much momentum. The Hatters offense was kickstarted by launching deep balls with the winds at their backs and the Vaqueros tried to use short passes to create opportunities.
In the 15
th minute, the Vaqueros earned their first corner opportunity after forcing tons of pressure in the midfield and taking advantage of a good counterattack.
A series of passes from created a solid offensive opportunity as senior captain
Mouhamed Pouye delivered a low cross to sophomore
Diego Rivera in the middle of the box, but Hatters goalkeeper
Matthew McCall corralled the shot with a diving save in the 38
th minute.
In the waning minutes of the first half, the Vaqueros created another good look as Rivera connected with junior
Elias Taj, but Taj's header went just wide of the right side of the goal. The Vaqueros and Hatters went into the half tied at 0-0.
Sophomore goalkeeper
Conrad Knight picked up his first save of the match after catching a dart from
Matthew Perez on his right hip.
UTRGV outshot Stetson 10-9 with a 5-3 shot on goal advantage. Knight finished with two saves while Hatters goalkeeper
Matthew McCall racked up four saves.
UTRGV will take a week off to recover before heading to South Florida for a Sunday night showcase on Sept. 6 which is scheduled to start at 6 p.m. Fans can watch live on ESPN+ or follow along through
live stats.
Support UTRGV Men's Soccer |
Become a Fan on Facebook |
Follow us on Twitter |
Follow us on Instagram |
Follow us on YouTube
