Hobbs, NM – Coming off a tie in their last conference game against Paul Quinn College, USW Men's Soccer was looking to get a bit more in their matchup against Our Lady of the Lake University. The OLLU Saints had been struggling leading into the faceoff with a 0-8-1 record up to this point in the year. 
 
The first half started with momentum on the side of OLLU as the Saints quickly got on the board with a Kevin Rios goal off a couple of deflections. A winless OLLU side showed they would not roll over on this day as they came out quite aggressive against the Mustangs. 
 
USW stayed strong, and Junior Jorge Sanchez found a goal in the 10^th minute on a cross from Sophomore Joshua Olivas that squared things up at one apiece. After over thirty minutes of scoreless play, OLLU struck again with a Stephen Volpe goal in the 42^nd minute off a Cade Ryan assist. 
 
The first half ended with OLLU ahead 2-1 and leading in the shots department with four to USW's two.
 
The aggressor changed in the second half as USW continued to pepper shots at their opponent but could not capitalize on any of them. It was not until the 84^th minute that Junior Millavy Lopez charged into the OLLU penalty box and was taken down by a defender. This set up Junior Adrian Cuevas with a penalty, which he would bury into the back of the net to make it 2-2. 
 
OLLU were down to ten men at the end of the game after a red card plagued them late. Unfortunately, the Mustangs could not put another away and the game ended in a draw. 
 
"I will start by saying this again: we are hurting ourselves by the way we start. We are a team that's taking forever to start the game, and it costs us at the end of them," stated Coach Edgar Negrete following the tie. "OLLU will always come out and play their best against us. It's a rivalry game, and they had us for a good amount of the game. We were able to see Millalvy Lopez come out and make something out of nothing and have Adrian Cuevas put the ball away for a tie. The tie wasn't what we wanted, but we have to look at the bright side that we remain undefeated in conference. We managed to get the tie somehow and not the loss." 
 
"We have to sit down and see what we can do to not start slow. These results can hurt us in the end, so we must find the magic again and play the way we know how. But I am proud of the fight the boys showed today. We will have to re-group and prepare for another tough TAMUSA game."
 
USW Men's Soccer will be home again this Saturday at 3:30 PM when they host Texas A&M University-San Antonio. Continue to follow USW Athletics and USW Men's Soccer on all social media for scores and updates throughout the season.