After conceding two goals with less than 30 minutes left in the game, North Texas SC was unable to climb back from the insurmountable deficit and wound up losing 2-1 to the Colorado Rapids 2 at Metropolitan State University of Denver Stadium on Sunday.
With San Jose Earthquakes II winning and the Tacoma Defiance earning a draw against the Portland Timbers 2, Los Toritos ended up dropping two spots and missed the playoff line by one point. Ultimately ending their MLS Next Pro season.
Lineups and Tactics
On Decision Day, North Texas rolled out a familiar lineup, opting for the 4-3-3 formation. In goal, Eryk Dymora earned his 21st start of the season. The backline saw one change from their previous matchup as Joshua Torquato replaced Liam Vejrostek at LB.
NTSC leading goal-scorer Edu Nys was paired with Caleb Swann as dual-8’s in the midfield, along with Lucas Martins, who started at CDM for his 6th start of the year. Midfielder Diego Garcia started at LW, opposite Ricky Louis at RW.
Up top, Nick Simmonds started at ST for the 13th time this season. Most notably absent from the starting XI was Natty James, who has 8 goals this season, along with 1 assist. With their playoff chances on the line, Head Coach John Gall opted for Garcia at winger over James, who has 21 starts this season.
Colorado maintained a 4-4-2 formation, with Bryan Dowd earning his 6th start of the season. The Rapids 2 backline consisted of Joshua Copeland (LB), Vincent Rinaldi (CB), Grant Gilmore (CB), and 17-year-old Jonathan de la Fuente (RB).
Ali Fadal and Luis García paired together at CM, while Kimani Stewart (LM) and Edgar Heredia (RM) started opposite each other, out wide on the wings. Up top, Rogelio Garcia and Nathan Tchoumba started as dual strikers.
The Game
Colorado kicked off the scoring first, with a goal in the 38th minute. After making a run into space on the right-hand side of the pitch, de la Fuente hit an incredible shot from distance and found the top-left corner, giving the Rapids 2 a 1-0 lead.
The home side had a great opportunity to double their lead just before halftime. In the 45th minute, Enzo Newman and Stewart took each other down after each went for the ball. The ref, however, saw the play a bit differently and deemed that Newman was in the wrong and awarded a PK to Colorado.
After some deliberation between a couple of Rapids 2 players, Stewart ultimately decided to take the kick. The Canadian midfielder stepped up to the spot, bounced his shot off the crossbar, and went into halftime with the score remaining 1-0.
Heredia doubled the Rapids 2 lead to open up the second half. In the 61st minute, the winger made a run down the right side of the pitch. Afterwards, he cut inwards onto his left foot, took a shot from the top of the box, and buried his 1st goal of the season to make it 2-0.
“The first goal changed the game and made us play with a little more stress,” Coach Gall said. “The effort and commitment from the boys were there, and I’m really proud of the group for continuing to push. Unfortunately, the second goal was a dagger.”
North Texas bounced back with a goal of their own in the 85th minute, giving the away side a bit of momentum. Marlon Luccin took a shot that appeared to deflect off Umberto Pelà. Starnes, with the heads-up play, quickly picked the ball back up in the box and cut the lead down to 1.
Despite the goal, North Texas failed to find their equalizer and thus left Colorado in defeat by a score of 2-1. The Defiance finished their game with a shootout win over Timbers 2, and the Earthquakes II defeated the Vancouver Whitecaps 2, earning both the Defiance and the Earthquakes II a spot in the postseason.
“I have no doubt we’ve learned a lot of lessons this year,” coach Gall said, “but the biggest issue has been inconsistency and creating some of our own problems. Unfortunately, that didn’t get us where we wanted to be.”
Our final Man of the Match for the 2026 MLS Next Pro season is the Captain himself, Slade Starnes. After finding the back of the net late in the game, having completed 90% of his 39 passes, and adding 6 defensive contributions, he did just about all he could to keep their season alive.
“Ultimately, we didn’t deliver today or consistently enough throughout the season,” Starnes said. “You want to be in a position where your playoff spot is already secure, but instead we had to come here and fight for it. To come up one goal short makes it hurt even more.”
Colorado had only 4 wins all season – 2 came against North Texas. Ridiculous.
That pitch is probably the worst North Texas has played on all year. This is one of the many reasons why MLSNextpro is such a joke. So many of the teams invest nothing in their development process.