North Texas SC defeated the Tacoma Defiance 3-1 at Texas Health Mansfield Stadium, after a rough outing in their previous matchup. With the return of Caleb Swann in the midfield, Los Toritos found a bit more structure to their offense that they had been lacking in prior games.
Lineups and Tactics
After a rough road trip to Ventura County, North Texas returned home to face-off against one of the hottest teams as of late in the Western Conference. Los Toritos held a 4-2-3-1 formation, with Eryk Dymora earning his 15th start of the season.
There was a lone change on the backline from their previous matchup, as Leandro Gonçalves replaced Álvaro Augusto at CB. In the midfield, there was one change as well, as Swann was inserted at CM for Marlon Luccin, for his 6th start of the year.
Up top, two changes were made as Daniel Baran (LW) started over Nick Simmonds, which allowed Ricky Louis to move forward as the team’s lone ST on the night. The other change was Natty James (RW) on for Sam Sedah.
The away side Defiance held a 3-4-3 formation, with Mohammed Shour in goal for his 7th start of the season. The backline consisted of an experienced group of defenders in which Jasper Winslow (LCB), Gallatin Sandnes (CB), and Demian Alvarez (RCB) all started.
In the midfield, Drew Brown (LWB) and Charlie Gaffney (RWB) started out wide as wingbacks, with Danny Robles and Bryan Cisneros-Tafolla both in the central midfield.
Up top, Rafael Jauregui started at LW and Xavi Gnaulati, his counter-part, at RW. 16-year-old Landon Lucero earned his 2nd start at ST. Most notably absent from the starting XI was Mark Bronnik, who leads the team in goals, with 9.
The Game
The first half heavily favored North Texas, as the home side controlled 58% of possession. Both teams accumulated 2 shots on target; however, neither team managed to find a goal in the opening 45 minutes of action.
After a miscue from Gonçalves in the 50th minute, Gaffney intercepted the ball in the midfield and played Gnaulati through on the break. Gnaulati made his run up the field, danced around Starnes, and eventually slotted it home for the 1-0 lead for Tacoma.
Less than 20 minutes later, North Texas equalized. In the 69th minute, Los Toritos worked the ball around the back before Swann played a long cross into the box. His pass found Starnes, who headed the ball into the back of the net to tie the game.
“When we went down, I saw some heads down, but we knew we were the better team,” Baran said. “We knew it was just a matter of time until we scored. Once we scored the first one, it just kept on coming.”
Building off this newfound momentum, North Texas took their first lead of the game in the 72nd minute. After Louis was taken down just outside the box by Shour, NTSC earned a free-kick.
Both Nys and Baran stood over the ball; however, Baran would be the one to take it. With an opportunity to take the lead at his feet, Baran made the most of his shot and curled the ball past Shour to take a 2-1 lead.
North Texas put the metaphorical “nail in the coffin” in the 92nd minute after they pressed forward off the counter. Swann played a ball to Nys, who found a streaking Louis into the box. Louis’ subsequent shot deflected off Shour and bounced out to Da’vian Kimbrough, who netted his 1st goal of the season, for the 3-1 win.
“Tonight was one of our better performances of the season, especially after last week’s loss in LA,” Head Coach John Gall said. “I’m proud of the group and the response after going 1-0 down. We showed a different energy tonight; we controlled the ball well and were more responsible in possession.”
It’s no mistake that when North Texas plays well, our Man of the Match also seems to always be on the field. Caleb Swann earned one assist tonight, but also created 2 chances for North Texas off of 49 touches. Swann won 6 of his 8 ground duels and also managed to draw 3 fouls.
Up next, North Texas SC welcomes Portland Timbers2 to Texas Health Mansfield Stadium on Saturday, August 15th at 7:45 pm CT. The Timbers2 are currently 12-4-6 on the season, with 3 shoot-out wins.
“We’ll enjoy this result and start preparing for Portland tomorrow,” coach Gall said. “They’re a very good team, but our focus will be on building off tonight’s performance, especially defensively and with our quality on the ball.”
