North Texas SC dominates Tacoma, advances to Western Conference Final

A dominating 4-1 performance and a trouncing of Tacoma in the second half, North Texas SC earned a spot in the Western Conference Final and a shot at the MLS Next Pro Championship game.

Interim Head Coach Michel Garbini lauded his team’s performance on the night, “The team was still organized, and taking care of the actions of the game. The second half was brilliant and consistent.”

The Game

North Texas rolled out the same starting XI as they did in their previous playoff game, with Logan Farrington at the lead of the attacking line.

Just past the quarter-hour mark, North Texas had their first solid chance of the night, as Logan Farrington ripped a shot but went just wide.

On the ensuing push upfield by Tacoma, a deflected shot from Chris Aquino looped over Michael Collodi for an early lead for Tacoma.

Los Toritos bounced right back when a lobbed through-ball from Diego Garcia found Pendrinho inside the 18-yard box. Pedrinho put it under the Tacoma goalie and in for an equalizer for the home team.

A midfield stalemate ensued following the Pedrinho equalizer, with each side unwilling to give. The teams went into halftime tied at one goal a piece.

Just two minutes into the second half, NTXSC captain Nico Gordon sent a beautiful long ball to Herbert Endeley, who put an inch-perfect low cross through the Tacoma Box to find Farrington for a tap-in to put the home side up early in the second half.

Just under twenty minutes after Farrington gave North Texas the lead, Carl Sainte followed up his own shot to tap home the ball through the keeper’s legs and double the lead.

In the 70th Minute, Tyshawn Rose was the last defender back and impeded the run of a Tacoma attacker, leading to a straight red card for the denial of an obvious goal-scoring opportunity.

Tacoma defender Antonio Lopez would earn a second yellow after a foul, which led to the teams playing the final 15 minutes 10 vs 10.

Soon after, Anthony Ramirez would score an incredible goal as the young winger cut in from the end line and took the shot through the defender’s legs, roofing the ball into the top of the net to put North Texas up 4-1.

It was a dominant performance from North Texas that led the team to a three-goal victory in the Western Conference Semi-Final. Notably, every player in the XI did enough to earn honors after the match with the official nod going to ‘Big Dawg’ Logan Farrington.

Quotes and Takeaways

Despite the early setback, North Texas dominated the majority of the ninety minutes with a lead over Tacoma in every major category of the match.

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In their last 270 minutes, including 180 in the playoffs, North Texas has scored 15 goals, a testament to both the coaching and the players.

North Texas went into the year without previous leading attackers Hope Avayevu and Berard Kamungo, the latter being full-time with the first team, and plenty of new faces in the attack. Not to mention losing their head coach halfway through the season. The team has gelled together well and play a system that uses each of them well.

“There was a goal we could have avoided but the reaction after the goal was fantastic, we didn’t panic,” Interim Head Coach Michel Garbini said of his team’s performance after the match.

“We had a wakeup call after last weekend’s second half versus Vancouver… today the standard was excellent… we did it during the week and the results showed.”

Logan Farrington said on the squad after the match, “Even though I haven’t played with them most of the year, I know most of the guys and watched them and know the playstyle and know how the playstyle is and how Michel coaches.”

“We really put on a show and made a statement”

North Texas will play the winner of St Louis City 2 and The Town FC in the Western Conference Final at Choctaw Stadium on Saturday, November 2nd.

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