North Texas SC drops three points in their home opener against fellow 2024 Western Conference finalists, St. Louis City 2, in a physical game.
The reigning 2024 MLS NEXT Pro champions kicked off their season in a 4-3-3, with two of their newest additions up front, Sam Sarver and Gianluca Cangiano. MLS NEXT Pro’s 2024 Goalkeeper of the Year Michael Collodi returned to the lineup for North Texas SC, alongside some familiar faces – Diego Garcia, Tarik Scott, and Anthony Ramirez.
St. Louis City 2 came out in a 4-2-3-1, which was slightly different from the 4-4-2 that they ran last year. This is in large part, because of their new head coach David Critchley, an academy coach who now takes the reins for their MLS Next Pro side.
The home crowd couldn’t have asked for a more nightmarish start to the game. In the 2nd minute, after a bit of pinball between both teams, the ball was volleyed over the head of Ian Charles, and headed on by a St. Louis forward. Collodi, who was a bit off his line, had the ball deflected off Charles and into the back of the net.
It was clear early on, that the majority of offense from NTSC would develop through Sarver, who had himself a strong game. With the majority of chances coming through the midfield, onto Sarver out wide, and back into the box where Cangiano or Scott would be lurking for the header.
Joshua Torquato is shown the game’s first yellow after he took down a St. Louis winger, just outside the box, 22 minutes into the game. Thankfully though, St. Louis was not able to connect on a dangerous set piece from about 13 yards out.
Tactically, St. Louis played a very aggressive and physical game. Always finishing their challenges and immediately looking to push the tempo after a turnover was created.
North Texas, on the other hand, was very much committed to building up their offense through possession. Stringing together passes in the midfield, hoping to find a passing lane that would lead to a cross in the box.
St. Louis would find their first yellow card of the game 29 minutes in when their winger shoved Torquato to the ground after the two had a hard-fought battle.
Less than 30 seconds later, in the 30th minute, Brendan McSorley would double the lead for St. Louis after he curled a ball in from about 10 yards out, to the bottom right corner of the goal.
Just two minutes before halftime, in the 43rd minute, City rolled a ball past the back line of the defense, where an unmarked St. Louis forward sent it back to the front of the net. A couple of shots ping off the North Texas defenders, and eventually fell to the St. Louis striker who sends a low ball in the back of the net and extended St Louis’ lead to 3-0.
North Texas would add their only legitimate chance of the first half, after the 45th minute when Scott ran down the left side of the field, crossed a pass into the box after beating his man with a bit of skill, toward Cagniano who headed it straight into the arms of the St. Louis keeper.
St. Louis opened up the second half with a very quick yellow card in the 46th minute after Sarver was taken down in the final third of the field. This chance led to a set piece from Garcia, who crossed the ball in, and had it headed over the bar by Cagniano.
Collodi came up with his first huge save of the night after a great use of his legs deflected the ball away after a dangerous attack from St. Louis.
North Texas made their first substitution of the game 60 minutes in, with Daniel Baran coming on for Cangiano and Jaidyn Contreras on for Caleb Swann.
Sarver managed to create another great chance 72 minutes in, when on the counter, he laid it off to Contreras, who managed to cut it back onto his left foot, but unfortunately sailed the ball just over the crossbar.
A minute later, in the 73rd minute, Baran sent a rocket of a shot off the bar and out of play. North Texas had slowly but surely started to find some life again.
In the 81st minute, Sarver was taken down just outside the box, which gave NTSC a great chance at a set piece. Sarver almost had his first of the season after a free kick sailed just right from about 17 yards out. Plenty of pace behind the ball, which would have probably beaten the keeper had it been on target.
The home team had another scoring chance in the 86th minute after Contreras played a through ball to Sarver, who laid it back off to Contreras, who faked out a St. Louis defender by passing it to Scott instead of shooting, who played a weak shot to the keeper. The entire offense, including Scott, looked visibly frustrated tonight, and rightly so.
After 3 minutes of stoppage time, the whistle blew, and the onslaught from St. Louis was finally over. A tough performance from a young squad, which showed glimpses of what won them a trophy in 2024, however ultimately wasn’t enough to win them anything tonight.
Despite the 3-0 loss, there were a few players who managed to stand out tonight for North Texas.
The first of which was the Captain, Sam Sarver. The former Hoosier, who was drafted 41st overall to FC Dallas in the 2025 MLS SuperDraft, facilitated the majority of the offense tonight for North Texas SC. Early on, he created a ton of chances with crosses into the box and was consistently beating his man down the wing to get into space behind the defense.
The other person who played well tonight was Jaidyn Contreras. The only other offensive player who seemed to find success against the St. Louis backline, after he caused a couple of key turnovers for NTSC in the offensive half of the field, and came away with a couple of great chances because of it.
Up next, North Texas SC takes on Whitecaps FC 2 at home on March 14th at 7:30 pm.
That’s a really good write up, thank you.
Sam Sarver, it takes folks a bit to realize he’s a homeless looking version of Jacob Shaffelburg.
Solid first game from him.