North Texas SC scores “Goal of the Game” but ultimately drops all three points to St. Louis City 2 at home.
North Texas welcomed St. Louis with a 4-3-3 formation and a few changes to go along with it. The backline remained unchanged from their previous game, including JT Harms, who got his ninth start in goal.
In the midfield, Diego Garcia returned to the starting lineup to accompany Enes Sali, who returned from his loan to Al-Riyadh SC and made his 2025 debut for Los Toritos. Most notably absent from the team tonight were Sam Sarver and Pedrinho, who both made the trip to Austin to play against Los Verdes with the senior team.
St. Louis came out in a slightly different formation, opting for the 4-2-3-1 with Christian Olivares getting his tenth start in goal. The backline reverted to their normal rotation with Miguel Perez and Tyson Pearce both falling back into the LB and RB positions, respectively.
The team’s leading goal scorers Mykhi Joyner and Brendan McSorley, started out on the wings, while Caden Glover was fluid at the 10. Most notably absent from tonight’s starting lineup for the away team was Matteo Kidd, who has scored 5 goals for St. Louis CITY2 so far this season.
Despite a first half that heavily favored North Texas, Joyner would get the scoring started in the 45th minute. Off a counterattack, Pearce crossed a ball into the box, which found its way to Joyner, who buried it from close range to give St. Louis the lead, 1-0.
In the 49th minute, North Texas SC would find its equalizer in stunning fashion. Aaron Essel sent a rocket into the top right corner of the goal from about 30+ yards out. My early choice for “Goal of the Season”, to make it 1-1.
St. Louis CITY2 would answer right back, however. In the 51st minute, McSorley played a bit of give-and-go with Emil Jääskeläinen, who eventually set up McSorley in the box for a toe-poked finish to make it 2-1, St. Louis.
“We didn’t track runners for their first goal, and we didn’t track runners for the second goal. We talked about that before the game. We knew that St. Louis were going to put as many as six players on the last line, and we told the players that they needed to track and they needed to follow the runners. We didn’t do that, and we got punished for it,” Head Coach John Gall said after the game.
The Western Conference favorites would put the nail in the coffin in added time. In the 92nd minute, after a turnover in the NTSC half of the field, Kidd made a couple of dribbles into the box and slotted a low shot into the bottom left corner, securing their 3-1 win.
A frustrating end to a game that felt like it could’ve gone either way tonight. Nevertheless, the offense for North Texas has plenty to hang its metaphorical hat on tonight.
Head coach John Gall said this about the team’s effort, “Overall, the performance was a good one. Like you said, we played against a really good team, a mature team, an experienced team… but in saying that, I thought that we showed what we’re made of tonight. We showed a lot of grit and a lot of character.”
Our Man of the Match honor goes to a player who, despite not showing up on the score sheet, was a huge reason for the offense’s success tonight. That player was Anthony Ramirez. With 3 chances created and 77% passes completed, the winger had himself a great bounce-back game.
Up next, North Texas SC welcomes LAFC 2 to Choctaw Stadium for the first time this season on Sunday, August 24th at 7:45 pm CT. LAFC 2 is currently 6-11-3 on the season, with 2 shoot-out wins.
