Austin FC equalized late in the game, but North Texas SC walked away with the two points in a road shootout victory.
North Texas made a ton of changes heading into tonight’s game. Notable was the absence of four key starters – Sam Sarver, Tarik Scott, Mohammed Cisset, and Malachi Molina.
Despite the loss of those guys, Los Toritos brought back a few familiar faces. Pedrinho made his second start for the team this season at striker. Alongside him, Anthony Ramirez and Jaidyn Contreras started out on the wings, with Caleb Swann at CM. JT Harms started in goal for the eighth time this season, and Jackson DuBois made his first start for North Texas at RB.
For Verde Dos, the team sported a 4-3-3, with Charlie Farrar getting his fourteenth start in goal. The backline consisted of Daniel Cieśla, Jules Bery, Antonio Gomez, and Riley Thomas, with Cieśla and Thomas playing out wide.
Up top, Vlad Dănciuțiu started at striker, with Diego Abarca and Bryant Farkarlun on the wings alongside him. Most notably absent from tonight’s lineup was Peter Grogan, who has 4 goals and 1 assist on the season. The team’s leading scorer, Jorge Alastuey, started at CM.
The first forty-five minutes of action were a quiet, tactical battle of physical play that resulted in a 0-0 scoreline going into the second half. Austin had the slight edge over North Texas in the game, with 3 shots on goal, 237 passes, and an 89.9% pass accuracy.
North Texas, on the other hand, failed to register a shot on goal in the first half and committed 11 total fouls, to Austin FC II’s 3 fouls. The bright spot on the scoreline thus far was Harms, who had 3 saves.
Despite the lack of offense in the first half for North Texas, Swann would get the scoring started in the 48th minute.
After a turnover in the midfield, Contreras found Favour Aroyameh, who played it forward to Pedrinho. With a bit of skill, Pedrinho rolled it backwards to Swann, who curled it into the bottom right corner, to give North Texas SC the 1-0 lead.
However, it wouldn’t be a derby match without theatrics, now would it?
In the 91st minute, Chuy Moreno played a cross into the box, where Alastuey got a touch onto the ball and trickled it past Harms. Late in the game, Verde Dos found a way to equalize, 1-1, and sent this game to PK’s.
Penalty Kick Results:
NTX – 🟢🟢🟢🟢🟢🟢
ATX – 🟢🟢🟢🟢🟢🔴
With tonight’s shoot-out victory, North Texas SC improves to 8-8-4 on the season, with 3 shoot-out wins. In a game where you’re missing a ton of your regular starters, it’s always nice to come away with a few points.
Head Coach John Gall had this to say about the team’s performance, “I thought we showed a lot of mentality, grit, and maturity tonight, with players stepping up, because anytime a team gets beaten 4-1 at home sometimes, things can kind of break down, and burst at the seam a little bit, but tonight they showed me what they’re all about. I am really proud of the guys.”
There were a number of players who deserved the title of “Man of the Match” including JT Harms who had 7 saves on the night. Aroyameh was probably one of the only bright spots in the first half, having completed 89% of his passes in the midfield and winning all 4 of his tackles. Even Pedrinho deserves a shout with his beautiful assist!
However, with his first professional goal for NTSC, Caleb Swann is our MotM. Swann had himself a night, netting one goal in the second half and completing 89% of his passes. A great time to show out and help your team secure two points.
“I thought it was a pretty good performance from the team overall. It’s tough giving up that goal at the end, but I thought we fought hard. JT had a really great game, making saves for us,” North Texas SC midfielder Caleb Swann said after the game.
Up next, North Texas SC returns home to Choctaw Stadium to host St. Louis CITY2 on Saturday, August 16th at 7:45 pm CT. St. Louis is currently 14-4-2 on the season, with 2 shoot-out wins.
