Despite scoring first, North Texas SC concedes at the buzzer and loses the penalty shoot-out to only come away with one point in tonight’s home loss to Sporting KC II.
North Texas opened up tonight’s game in a 3-4-3 formation, with JT Harms starting in goal. In front of him in the back line, Gavin Gall and Álvaro Augusto both returned to the starting lineup to join James Bulkeley.
Also returning to the starting XI were Joshua Torquato (LM), Sam Sarver (RW), and Diego Garcia (LW). Notably absent from the game tonight was the ever-so-versatile Aaron Essel, who picked up a knock this past week in training.
SKCII sported (sorry, not sorry) a 3-5-2 with Jack Kortkamp getting his eleventh start in goal. At times, this formation looked a bit like a 3-4-1-2, with Carter Derksen floating between the strikers and the line of midfielders.
Hal Uderitz made his first start of the season, alongside Pierre Lurot and Gael Quintero on the backline. The high-scoring Maouloune Goumballe started up top alongside Bryan Arellano, while the team’s leading scorer Medgy Alexandre was available off the bench.
Unlike the last meeting between these two teams, the first 45 minutes of action were incredibly low-scoring. In fact, no goals were scored. 16 shots were taken between the two teams, 10 total corners, and both teams managed to accrue 6 fouls each.
It seemed the drought would end in the second half when Torquato was able to draw a handball off a cross into the box. In the 52nd minute, Sarver stepped up to take the PK and skied it about 10 yards over the crossbar. It was a very uncharacteristic shot from a guy who is usually automatic from the penalty spot.
North Texas would finally break through in the 82nd minute when Christopher Salazar flicked a header forward to Sarver. Sarver was able to outrun his defender, finding Jaidyn Contreras in the middle on a two-on-one with the goalie. Contreras tapped it home for his first professional goal and gave NTSC the lead, 1-0.
SKCII would end up spoiling the three-point opportunity in the 89th minute. After a corner was played into the box by Johann Ortiz. The ball would find Lurot in the box, who headed it home to tie the game and (for a second straight week) send it to PK’s.
After 90 minutes of soccer, the game headed to a shootout. In which SKCII was able to come up with two huge saves and take two huge points from NTSC.
Penalty Kick Results:
NTX – 🟢🟢🟢🔴🔴
SKC – 🟢🟢🟢🟢X
After a tough loss like this, it’s hard to name anybody the “Man of the Match”. Realistically, Caleb Swann and Contreras both had great games, but their shots were saved in the shoot-out. Sarver had a PK saved earlier in the game. Which means the last man standing is Álvaro Augusto.
Augusto came up big tonight with three clearances, over 90% of his passes completed, and also had a shot block. It may not have been the result we could have hoped for, but a solid performance from Augusto heading into the (potential) post-season is always a good sign.
With the single point, North Texas SC sits in 9th, one spot out of the playoffs, with three games to play.
Up next, North Texas SC travels to Allianz Field to take on Minnesota United 2 on Sunday, September 21st at 3:00 pm CT. MNUFC2 is currently 10-9-6 on the season, with 2 shoot-out wins.
