North Texas SC bounces back on the road against Sporting KC II, after Sam Sarver goes for four, in the 4-1 victory.
North Texas SC finished up their road trip against Sporting KC II. The team came out in a 4-4-2 formation, with a couple of changes noted. Making his debut in the starting XI, midfielder Favour Aroyameh started at CDM, alongside midfielder Caleb Swann.
Joining them in the starting lineup were forward Tarik Scott, midfielder Anthony Ramirez, and goalkeeper Nico Montoya, all of whom did not play in last week’s game. Defensive specialist Aaron Essel also started at CB tonight, replacing the absent Mohamed Cisset.
SKC II sported (pun intended) a 3-4-3 formation, with Beau Barren making his MLS Next Pro debut in goal. Alongside him, Captain Cielo Tschantret returned to the backline, alongside fellow defenders Nati Clarke and Pierre Lurot.
Sporting KC II’s leading goal scorer Medgy Alexandre started up top tonight, with Carter Derksen making his fourth start of the season in the midfield. Most notably absent from the starting lineup tonight was Gael Quintero, who has twelve starts on the season.
North Texas would start the game out hot in the 15th minute. Scott played a beautiful transition ball from their own half to Ramirez, who was gone on a 2-on-1 break. Ramirez played it through to Sam Sarver, who curled it past the keeper to make it 1-0, NTSC.
Eight minutes later, Sarver doubled the lead for North Texas. In the 23rd minute, once again off the break, Sarver beat his man up the line to create a 2-on-2 situation. As he approached the goal, he fainted left, shot, and scored. His 12th goal of the season extended North Texas’ lead, 2-0.
Sarver completed his hat trick just thirty-five minutes into the game. Essel played another long ball over top, which allowed Sarver to get in behind the backline of the defense. After dribbling up the left side of the field, he nutmegged the keeper for his 13th goal of the season, and NTSC’s lead grew to 3-0.
It didn’t stop there either. After the second half started, Malachi Molina dropped a ball over top to Ramirez in the 51st minute, who did great to bring it down. Ramirez played it back to Sarver, who buried it for his 4th of the night. 4-0, NTSC.
In the 64th minute, Sporting KC II would pull one back. Lurot made a run from the backline of SKC II, up the left side of the field, and flicked a through ball to Bryan Arrellano. After stumbling past Jackson Dubois, Arrellano curled a ball to the far post, past Montoya, to make it 4-1.
After ninety minutes of action, the whistle blew, and North Texas would walk away with three crucial points. Tonight’s win moves them up to 3rd in the Western Conference, even with Colorado Rapids 2, who also have 29 points on the season.
Head Coach John Gall had this to say after tonight’s performance, “We did really well in the first half, where you get a look at the goals, and you think that it’s a dominating performance, but defensively, we were really solid. It was important to bounce back. It was a disappointing trip down to Houston last week; we shot ourselves in the foot a little with some errors defensively. We moved on, and this week the team was business as usual.”
Despite the entire team playing well tonight, there could only be one Man of the Match: Samuel Sarver. The Truth. El sucesor de El Tren. The former Hoosier has been stellar for North Texas all season, including tonight, where he had four goals in fifty-one minutes of action. Take a bow, 11!
“It’s an incredible feeling, obviously, to be a part of history. Last week wasn’t the result we wanted, and we took care of our chances tonight. It shows what we can do when we are up for the challenge,” Sarver said after the match. “We go into every game with the same attitude, no matter where a team lies on the table, if they’re first place or last, it doesn’t matter. I’m super proud of how the guys responded tonight.”
Up next, North Texas SC returns home (sort of) to Toyota Stadium to host Club Deportivo Tapatío on Saturday, July 26th at 7:30 pm CT. Los Toritos will take on the reigning 2024-25 Liga BBVA Expansión MX Campeón de Campeones winner in a 2025 MLS NEXT Pro Invitational.
