ODESSA, TX---The University of the Southwest Men's Soccer program kicked off their 2021 spring season on Sunday afternoon taking on NCAA Division 2 opponent UTPB. This was the first action for USW since late 2019 and Head Coach Edgar Negrete was grateful for the chance to get back out there. "I thought this day would never come" said Coach Negrete. "With us having to cancel our first conference game due to weather, our players were losing hope and felt like the season would never get started. With the hard work from our Athletic Director Steve Appel and President Dr. Thurman, we got the opportunity to play again. Once that whistle blew, I saw the faces of our players and could see nothing but excitement and happiness."

The Mustangs would fall to the host Falcons 3-1. Johan Rodriguez scored the lone for the Mustangs in the 43rd minute from a penalty kick. The Mustangs conceded two goals in the first 22 minutes of play, and were unable to comeback. UTPB would add on a 3rd goal in the 67th minute. "We didn't' get the result we wanted, however we did see a lot of positive things from today. UTPB is a strong team with a good amount of talent and we were able to keep up with them. It was our first real game together as a team and I thought we did great. The result doesn't reflect that, but the team was able to play through every obstacle thrown at them. I was impressed with our freshman who had to step up in some positions. Now we just have to go back to the drawing board and regroup and move forward" said Negrete after Sunday's loss. 

The Mustangs led the game in shots with 17 total including 9 shots on goal. Despite leading in shots, UTPB made their shots count, especially on set pieces which will be a point of emphasis for Negrete and company in the next few weeks. "Our main focus this week will definitely be working on set pieces. 2 of their goals were score on set pieces and you have to take care of set pieces or you will be punished and that's exactly what happened to us. Offensively we had a few chances from set pieces and weren't able to capitalize. Now we take our focus to UHV who is the returning champion. It will be a bigger challenge and we have to execute set pieces against them"