In what turned out to be one of their worst losses of the season, North Texas SC lost 6-1 to Ventura County FC at William Rolland Stadium.
Despite winning the battle of possession and having one fewer shot than Ventura County, Los Toritos could only manage one goal on the night, to the opposition’s six.
Lineups and Tactics
North Texas held a 4-3-3 formation, with Eryk Dymora getting his 14th start of the season in goal. Behind him, 16-year-old academy player David Jaimes was the reserve keeper on the bench. The backline saw no changes to the starting XI from their previous game against LAFC2.
In the midfield, Timmy Ospina (CM) replaced Ian Charles and played a higher position than Charles, who usually sits at the 6. Up top, Sam Sedah (RW) replaced Benji Flowers for his 3rd start of the season.
With the addition of Sedah into the lineup, Ricky Louis slid over to the left wing and accompanied Nick Simmonds (ST), who made his 7th start of the season. Most notably absent from the starting XI was Natty James, who is 2nd on the team in goals, with 8 so far in 2026.
The home side sported a 4-2-3-1 formation, with Sebastian Conlon earning his 19th start of the season. The backline consisted of Riley Dalgado (LB), Enrique Martinez (CB), Sebastian Hernandez (CB), and Mason Vanney (RB).
Ventura County held two defensive midfielders in Vicente Garcia and Brett Phan. Above them, Luis Müller earned his 2nd start of the season at CAM. Up top, Eric Preston (LW) and Jeremy Djieze (RW) were paired with Julian Placias, who started at ST.
Most notably absent from the starting XI for Ventura County was 18-year-old Dylan Vanney, the brother of Mason, who has 7 goals through 15 games so far this season. Vanney has also accrued 3 assists on the team.
The Game
Ventura County got the ball rolling early and found the scoresheet to open up the game. Just 11 minutes in, Preston played a bit of give-and-go with Vanney. After receiving the ball back from Vanney, Preston played it across goal to Placias, who tapped it in for the opening goal.
A short time later, the home side doubled their lead. In the 15th minute, Dalgado played Preston through down the left side of the field. After getting past Newman, Preston dribbled one-on-one with the keeper and was able to curl it past Dymora for the 2-0 lead.
Just before halftime, Placias found the scoresheet once again for the 3-0 lead. In the 40th minute, Preston played another give-and-go ball, this time with Müller. After receiving the ball back, Preston continued his run down into the box, played a low cross to Placias, who tapped it home.
“Being down 3-0 at halftime makes for a difficult team talk,” Head Coach John Gall said, “but we came out in the second half like we did against LAFC2, and we were much brighter. We could have given up after those goals, but we kept trying to get back into the game.”
It took a full 45 minutes, but the second half proved to be much slightly better for the away side.
In the 51st minute, Simmonds took the ball away from Martinez after a bit of miscommunication between him and his goalie. Simmonds dribbled around Conlon and buried the open goal to make it 3-1, Ventura County.
Unfortunately for them, however, Ventura County answered right back less than a minute later. In the 52nd minute, the home side worked the ball out wide to Placias. The striker played a long cross into the box, only to find Preston on the other end, who volleyed it home for the 4-1 lead.
“It’s been our Achilles’ heel for most of the season,” coach Gall said. “The errors we’ve made at times have held us back. I thought we had turned a corner, but tonight was the culmination of many issues that have affected this team throughout the season.”
Ventura County found their dagger in the 86th minute after Jose Magaña’s shot was deflected away by Starnes. Angel Villatoro picked up the ball in the box, faked a shot, and slotted it past Dymora for their fifth goal of the game.
Just when we thought this game was over, Ventura County scored their 6th goal of the game in the 92nd minute.
The home side worked the ball down the right side, where Placias played it towards goal. After deflecting off a few players, Villatoro played it back towards Müller, who slotted home the final goal of the game. A 6-1 win for Ventura County FC.
In a loss as bad as this one, it’s hard to pick a Man of the Match. However, tonight’s goal scorer for Los Toritos, Nick Simmonds, was the only player for the away side that even remotely played well. 1 goal, 34 touches, 2 shots on target, and completed 83% of his passes. Not his best game, but far better than anything we saw from North Texas SC tonight.
Up next, North Texas SC returns home to Texas Health Mansfield Stadium to take on the Tacoma Defiance on Saturday, August 8th at 7:45 pm CT. The Defiance are currently 8-8-4 on the season, with 2 shoot-out wins.