The University of the Southwest Men's Soccer Team finished off their two-game road trip on Saturday against Texas A&M University-San Antonio. The conference matchup saw the Mustangs enter with a record of (4-4-1) overall and (4-0) in conference play and coming off a big win over OLLU on Thursday. The Jaguars from San Antonio entered the contest (0-3-2) overall and (0-2-2) in conference play. This is the first time the teams have ever faced off with TAMUSA being new to the conference. The Mustangs controlled the contest from the outset and were able to secure a 4-0 victory. They now sit at (5-0) in conference play for the first-time in program history.
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Following the contest Head Coach,
Edgar Negrete said "It was a successful week here in San Antonio. I'm happy what can I say, the boys knew this was an important week, and winning the game at A&M San Antonio was going to be the icing on the cake. We started slow we weren't playing to our full potential at the beginning of the game. However, we got a goal late in the first half by a great assist from
Adrian Cuevas which
Guadalupe Meza put the ball away that helped us get momentum ending the first half. In the second half, we were able to have Angel win a ball at half field and play
Matthew Alvarado which he was able to put the ball in the back of the net.
Matthew Alvarado, later on, was going to receive the ball and earned a PK and he was able to do what he does best and find the net. To end the game, we then had a moment of brilliance by MilaIvy who has been in form and is showing his talent as a freshman. But I do want to give special recognition to my defense. Defensive stats are hard to get. But my defense has been incredible I don't think they get enough credit and they have played a huge part in why we are holding these results.
Brandon Cataldi,
Dan Moreno,
Joshua Olivas,
Gael Navarrete were perfect this game and of course our goalkeeper
Armando Pando. These players are a huge reason why we are winning these games. It's that saying "defense wins championships" and I just want to give them credit because if my defense wouldn't be playing as they have been we wouldn't be 5-0. We will enjoy the weekend now and we will get ready for what will be our biggest game yet. We have UHV who hasn't lost a conference game in two years. We hope to see a lot of fans there to support us because we're going to need it. This will be a fun game to watch and hopefully we can come out with an upset. It will be far from easy but if we come together who knows anything can be possible. We just have to BELIEVE."Â
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As Coach Negrete mentioned, the goal scorers for the Mustangs were
Matthew Alvarado (2),
Guadalupe Meza, and
MillaIvy Lopez. For the senior Alvarado, the goals were his 6
th and 7
th of the year. For the Freshman Meza, it was his 2
nd goal of the year. Freshman
MillaIvy Lopez has been coming on as of late and the goal was his 4
th of the season, with all four coming in the last four contests. Goalkeeper
Armando Pando was able to get the shutout by recording 5 saves in the contest.Â
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The Mustangs have a big matchup with the University of Houston-Victoria coming up at home on Thursday at 3:30 PM MST. The Mustangs currently sit a half-game back of UHV who is (6-0) in conference play to this point. They will stay home to take on Huston Tillotson University on Saturday at 3:30 PM MST.Â
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