The University of the Southwest Men's Soccer Team traveled to Shreveport, LA on Saturday to take on the Pilots of Louisiana State University Shreveport as part of the RRAC Men's Soccer Championship. The game was a quarterfinal match that pitted the four seeded Pilots against the five seeded Mustangs. The Pilots entered the contest (11-6-1) and (7-3-1) in RRAC play and were (6-0-1) in their last 7 games. The Mustangs entered (6-9-1) and (6-5) in conference play. 
 
The two teams had just matched up the week prior with the Pilots getting the better of the Mustangs 5-2, but the Mustangs were hoping for a different outcome this time around. The Pilots were able to get on the board early with a goal in the 7^th minute and added two more goals later in the first half. The Mustangs were never able to get anything going offensively and Shreveport added two more goals in the second half, winning the match 5-0. LSUS was attacking constantly and outshot the Mustangs 21 to 11 and put 11 shots on goal compared to the Mustangs 6. This was not the way the Mustangs envisioned their year ending after a very solid performance in RRAC play this year. 
 
Head Coach Edgar Negrete was rightly disappointed after the contest saying "Today's game we looked motivated to go and we understood what LSUS was going to bring. We conceded a goal early and that just killed the momentum for us throughout the game. They ended up scoring 5 goals on us and it was just a game where we couldn't find the magic. We couldn't get going today. We just hit a slump at the end of the season and we couldn't get back on the winning side. To my seniors, I'm extremely proud of the effort that they gave today, and these players impacted the other players. It's tough to see them end their season this way it's really heartbreaking, we were destined for more but like I said we couldn't find the magic.  Now we just focus on next year and hope we can match the talent that is leaving us this year and see what we can do. But overall, I was proud of the boys. We will continue to grow and keep being a competitive team in the Red River." 
 
The Mustangs will have a lot to replace next year due to the graduation of several talented players. The Mustangs will be losing Dan Moreno, Fernando Lechuga, Aaron Moreno, Matthew Alvarado, Gerardo Tenorio, Diego Vazquez, Brandon Cataldi, and Robert Madrid. Alvarado was the leading goal scorer for the Mustangs the past two years, he had 12 in 16 games played this year and 8 in 7 games played last year and was named RRAC Offensive Player of the Year. Dan Moreno played in 50 games in his career at USW, including 15 starts this past year, and was a big part of the Mustang defense. Lechuga played in 8 games this year, started 2 of them, and was a solid player on the defensive end. Aaron Moreno played in 41 career games for the Mustangs and also played a key role for the Mustang defense. Tenorio played in 50 games in his time with the Mustangs collecting 7 goals and 5 assists in his four years. Diego Vazquez played in 38 games in his career, including 14 starts this past season, and was able to net a goal this year while being a force on the defensive end. Brandon Cataldi played in 34 games the past three years, including 16 starts this year, after transferring in from Iowa Western CC. He had three goals and three assists in his time with the Mustangs and was named Honorable Mention All-Conference last year. Robert Madrid appeared in 6 games, including 1 start for the Mustangs this year. 
 
Some returners that will likely have increased roles and responsibilities are Freshman MillaIvy Lopez, Sophomore Gael Navarrete, Sophomore Armando Pando, and Junior Luis Calvillo. Lopez was the second leading goal scorer this year, with 5, and will likely be asked to replace some of the goal scoring of Matt Alvarado. Navarrete had 2 goals and 3 assists this year and did a little bit of everything for the Mustangs and will likely be asked to do more. Pando was the team's Goalkeeper for 15 of the 17 contests this year and was able to put up four shutouts in those contests. Calvillo will be a senior and likely be one of the leaders of the team, he had 15 starts this year and 1 assist while operating out of the midfield. 
 
Heading into next year, the Mustangs will look to build off a successful year that saw them make the conference tournament for the second year in a row. They will have to replace several key seniors but have some young talent on the roster that will look to step up into bigger roles and we will see what additions Coach Negrete can make on the recruiting trail.