Much like the fireworks that followed the game, North Texas SC exploded back into action with a 3-0 win against St. Louis City 2 at Texas Health Mansfield Stadium. In front of 5,694 fans, Ricky Louis netted his first brace of the season.
Lineups and Tactics
In front of the home crowd at their newly constructed stadium, North Texas held a 4-3-3 formation with Ian Charles holding back in the midfield as the team’s 6. Alongside him, Caleb Swann and Edu Nys also played in the central midfield.
On the backline, both Slade Starnes and Álvaro Augusto returned to the starting lineup at CB, with Starnes making his first appearance since May 9th of this year. Out wide, Joshua Torquato and Enzo Newman started at LB and RB, respectively.
Eryk Dymora made his 11th start in goal, with this game being his 4th consecutive start of the season. Up top, Nick Simmonds returned to the starting XI to make his 5th start of the season, alongside Natty James (LW) and Jaidyn Contreras (RW), who started out wide on the wings.
Opposite the home side, St. Louis City 2 sported a 3-4-3 formation, with Nate Martinez earning his 2nd start of the season in goal. On the backline, Chris Pearson, Zack Lillington, and Sidney Paris all started as the team’s CB’s.
Emiliano Chavez made his debut in the starting lineup at LWB, opposite Stone Marion, who made his 5th start of the season at RWB. In the midfield, Trip Clancy III made his 2nd consecutive start at CM, with Adeteye Gbadehan (CM) alongside him.
Up top, Kane Kraus started as the team’s lone striker, also making his MLS Next Pro debut for St. Louis CITY2. Most notably absent from the lineup was Palmer Ault, who leads the team in goals, with 8 on the season.
The Game
Despite the theatrics that ensued prior to kickoff, the first half was relatively quiet. A total of 3 yellow cards were handed out, two of which were for North Texas. St. Louis went without a shot on goal, while NTSC accumulated 2. Possession was split 51/49, in favor of St. Louis.
The second half proved to be much more eventful, as Louis would kick off the scoring for either team in the 53rd minute.
Contreras made a run down the right side of the field toward the endline, where he played the ball back toward a crowd of players in the box. Swann located the ball and played it back toward Louis, and as he was falling away from the goal, slid it under the keeper’s legs to give NTSC the 1-0 lead.
“I made the decision not to start him tonight after the Vancouver game, but this is exactly how you respond,” head coach John Gall said. “To score the first goal in this stadium is something nobody can ever take away from him. I’m really proud of his determination and mentality.”
Nearly 20 minutes later, Los Toritos doubled their lead. In the 72nd minute, after a cross from Nys was played off the corner, the ball deflected out to a sprinting Swann who, after a couple of deflections, was able to tap it in for his 1st goal of the season.
In the 93rd minute, Louis put the metaphorical nail in the coffin after newly signed Da’vian Kimbrough’s pass to Benji Flowers was dummied through to Louis, who buried the goal for his second of the game and secured the 3-0 win for North Texas.
“The win was super important,” Starnes said. “There’s been a lot of work behind the scenes to make this happen, and our job was to come out, play our game, compete for each other, defend as a unit and celebrate our goals. We did all of that tonight, so it was a perfect day.”
After tonight’s performance, there were a number of players who could be nominated as Man of the Match; however, Ricky Louis was in a class of his own tonight. Louis subbed in at halftime and managed to net a brace against one of the best teams in the Western Conference, at striker, a position he hasn’t played for this team all season.
“It felt great to come on and score a brace,” Louis said. “I want to thank the team, coaches, and the staff for not only believing in me, but helping us finish the game and just working hard as a unit. I also want to thank the fans for supporting us.”
Up next, North Texas SC travels to Metropolitan State University of Denver Stadium to take on the Colorado Rapids 2 on Saturday, July 11th at 7:00 pm CT. The Rapids 2 are currently 1-10-5 on the season, with 1 shoot-out win.
