Vaqueros home opener blues - The Rider Newspaper

Redshirt junior midfielder Eduardo De Oliveira (center) celebrates his goal with his teammates during today’s game at the UTRGV Soccer and Track & Field Complex on the Edinburg campus. The Golden Eagles defeated the Vaqueros 2-1.
Jose Rodriguez/THE RIDER

The UTRGV Men’s Soccer Team (0-3-0) lost 1-2 against Oral Roberts University (1-2-1) at tonight’s home opener game at the Soccer and Track & Field Complex on the Edinburg campus.

Head coach Bryheem Hancock said when playing a man down for almost 70 minutes of the game, it is very hard to win a match.

Early into the first half, junior midfielder and Mission-native Emiliano Abboud immediately received a red card after facing a collision.

“The fact that we were able to score a man down showed a lot of toughness from the guys,” Hancock said.

He said the team had all the chances to tie up the score with the conditions of Oral Roberts.

“They were cramping up, they had guys on the ground, their coaches were yelling and screaming, which usually indicates that the other team was doing well, which was us,” Hancock said.

Antonio Bittencourt (left), a redshirt senior defender for Oral Roberts University, and Eduardo De Oliveira, a redshirt junior midfielder for UTRGV, race for the ball near the end of the first half during today’s game at the Soccer and Track & Field Complex on the Edinburg campus.
Jose Rodriguez/THE RIDER

The Vaqueros started the kickoff with possession passing between both teams, keeping the ball centered on the pitch. They began with a slow pace, mostly defensive action taking place throughout the first 45 minutes.

Senior goalkeeper and Brownsville native Alexis Gonzalez worked fluidly with the defense to push away shots from the Golden Eagles.

Oral Roberts University had been on their A-game with the pressure against UTRGV, but kept falling short due to being offside and missed shots.

At minute 18, redshirt junior midfielder Eduardo De Oliveira changed the score one to nil and was assisted by Gonzalez. Oral Roberts picked up its pace after the goal, keeping the game intensity high.

The first half ended with UTRGV taking the lead. Oral Roberts had been fighting the whole time with 4 shots, 7 corner kicks and 6 offsides. However, the Vaqueros kept it calm all throughout with their only shot on goal becoming their first goal, zero corner kicks and zero marked offsides.

The second half started off with loads of pressure from both teams, but UTRGV fell short as senior forward Leonardo Seixas scored the first goal of the night for Oral Roberts.

The second goal for the Golden Eagles came on quickly as sophomore forward Tweneboa Kodua took his shot on goal, making the score out to be 2-1.

Freshman forward Michael Chaves attacks the goal line, shoots and misses during today’s game at the UTRGV Soccer and Track & Field Complex on the Edinburg campus. The Vaqueros fell to the Golden Eagles 2-1.
Jose Rodriguez/THE RIDER

UTRGV was starting to fight strong to draw up the game after the unexpected turnaround from Oral Roberts, but the pressure was getting heavy as they started accumulating yellow cards throughout the second half.

With less than 10 minutes left on the board, junior goalkeeper Jakub Grzeiak from the Golden Eagles made a shocking save, preventing UTRGV from tying up the game.

The Vaqueros maintained possession of the ball as the time ran out but were unable to match up to their opponents.

Hancock said the most important thing is that the team is getting better.

UTRGV’s next match will be away against the University of the Incarnate Word on Sept. 12.