North Texas SC drew 1-1 against St Louis City 2, with NTSC getting the two points by winning the shootout in the 11th round 9-8.
After drawing with Vancouver last week NTSC looked to improve in their first road game of the season. City went into this game off a 2-1 loss to Colorado last weekend.
NTSC defender Nico Gordon received an international call-up for Monsterrat, clearing space for Turner Humprey to get his first start of the season. Defender Amet Korça and winger Herbert Endeley would also receive their first starts.
Los Toritos goalkeeper Michael Collodi made two saves in the 6th minute as City played with a high press to keep the ball in the North Texas half and get two separate shots off.
In the 13th, City had yet another chance when forward Brendan Mcsorley skied his shot after the ball was squared off to him just outside the six-yard box.
“It took us a little bit to get ourselves settled into the match. The biggest adjustment for us was dropping our fullbacks lower to deal with their press,” North Texas SC Head Coach John Gall said after the game. “Once we felt more comfortable as the game progressed, we were able to build out of the back.”
A chance would occur for the Texas side when in the 30th, Enes Sali dribbled centrally from the left flank when his pass went behind Diego Pepi and landed for Tarik Scott. Scott’s shot was got blocked by defender Jayden Reid.
Mcsorley would get his shot saved by Collodi in the 34th, but Caden Glover got to the ball with his shot getting blocked by Korça.
Pepi laid off a pass for Scott kicking the ball hard left where City defender Kyle Hiebert deflected the ball back to Scott. He capitalized on the second chance by taking another shot and scoring the opening goal in the 42nd minute.
Gall talked about how the goal wasn’t only important for the team. “To get the first goal was really important for us. Tarik was out for a really long time, and it is great to get him back on the score sheet and playing with more confidence.”
At the half, City had taken 11 shots with nothing to show for it. North Texas had key saves and four blocked shots to maintain the 1-0 lead.
Scott crossed the ball into a wide-open Garcia, trying to score the header but goalkeeper Christian Oliveras denied the shot. Oliveras got to the parried ball first and knocked it out for a corner.
In the 74th, St Louis defender Michael Wentzel put his arm over Sali’s shoulder and yanked him down as Sali was making a run behind the defense. Players on the North Texas side would surround the referee arguing that it should have been a red on Wentzel rather than the yellow he recieved.
It would be in the 82nd minute that City would score after having 22 shots in the game. It would be Hiebert off a header from a free kick taken by Reid.
Collodi made yet another save from a dangerous shot taken by Hiebert in the 98th to keep the game level and give Los Toritos a chance for a shootout and the two points.
The game did indeed go to a penalty shootout after ending 1-1 in regulation.
Hiebert’s shot was saved by Collodi, but he got to redo it as Collodi came off his line. The redo was saved once again by the fingertips.
The shootout would go to 11 rounds when it came back down to Hiebert. Hiebert’s second penalty of the shootout was saved yet again.
Now NTSC needed their next shot to go in. Garcia stepped up and scored his shot to secure the extra point.
“The effort, heart, and grit that we showed today proved how much we can do. I don’t think we had the best performance overall, and we know we must perform better overall,” Collodi said after the game. “The ability to get a result like that is a sign of a good team with better things to come.”
North Texas has three points in their first two games and is in eighth place in the Western Conference.
Their next game will be at home against The Town FC on Saturday, April 6th, at 4 pm. You can tune in on MLSNEXTPro.com and YouTube.
Lineups
North Texas SC – Michael Collodi; Amet Korça, Carl Sainté, Turner Humphrey (Anthony Ramirez – 63’), Abdoul Zanne, Diego García, Nicholas Mendonca (Lautaro Taboada – 100’), Herbert Endeley, Enes Sali, Diego Pepi (Malik Henry-Scott – 76’) , Tarik Scott.
Subs not used – Leo Londe Jr, Ian Charles, Malachi Molina, Nicolas Montoya.
St Louis CITY2 – Christian Olivares; Jayden Reid, Michael Wentzel, Kyle Hiebert, Tyson Pearce (Nolan Mcguire – 77’), Wan Kuzain, Cameron Cilley (Seth Antwi – 77’), Hosei Kijima (Carson Locker – 88’), John Klein III, Brendan Mcsorley, Caden Glover (Ryan Becher – 63’).
Subs not used – Eric Kinzer, N Bishop, Dida Armstrong, Gabriel Mikina.
Cards
Glover (yellow card) – 16’
Sali (yellow card) – 68’
Wentzel (yellow card) – 74’
Scott (yellow card) – 74
Mendonca (yellow card) – 79’
Endeley (yellow card) – 80’
Korça (yellow card) – 83’
Scott (red card) – 97’
Sali (red card) – 99’