UTRGV men’s soccer is half a year away from its upcoming season. It’s also four months removed from the end of the WAC tournament. However, Head Coach Paul Leese’s team is still on the pitch, facing professional squads.
The spring season got underway with the stiffest competition available, Major League Soccer’s Houston Dynamo. On Feb. 4, the Vaqueros played a 60-minute match against the Dynamo, losing 5-0. The final scoreline was lopsided, but UTRGV kept Houston at 2-0 until the floodgates opened late.
Leese said the game served as motivation and a unique opportunity.
“You can’t ask for anything more than playing against the MLS guys,” he said. “For these young boys, they all want to see themselves in that position. What better way to measure how much more work they have to do and the areas they need to grow.”
Feeding into the development of UTRGV soccer, and on a broader scale, soccer in the Rio Grande Valley is the growth of RGV-FC. The professional team is part of the United Soccer League. The Toros serve as a development program for the Dynamo.
The parallels between the Toros and Vaqueros are easy to recognize. The teams are both in their infancy, UTRGV’s first season was 2015, and the Toros inaugural season was last year.
Leese said the structure of soccer is now a complete pipeline, from youth to professional.
“Whether you go from youth club, from academy level,” the head coach said. “Then you got the college level, immediately after that you have the USL, then you have the MLS. You got a perfect structure. You’re developing that, and that’s the most valuable thing. You don’t want to lose a player who drops through one of those gaps. You’ve always got a team that can help pick them up.”
UTRGV also faced the Toros this semester. It lost 2-1 Feb. 13. The Vaqueros were outshot 6-3. New Mexico University transfer Andy Rios made three saves in his debut with the team. He started the second half and his only conceded goal was an own goal.
The Toros already have UTRGV influence on their preseason roster, just two years into their existence. Former Vaqueros Alex Ochoa and Juanito Garcia saw action for the Toros defense in the second half Monday.
Brownsville native and Rivera High School alumnus Isidro Martinez is an early example of a local taking advantage of the pipeline.
He scored UTRGV’s lone goal in the 2-1 loss to RGV-FC. He will be a junior next season and is soaking up as much knowledge as he can.
“Obviously, they’re pros so we learn from them, we learn from their skills and the way it is in the next level,” said Martinez, who tied for the team lead in points last season. “It gives us that learning process. So, we start learning from now to build up to the season in the fall.”
Playing against a strong team is a struggle for an offense. The defense also faced the best forwards it has probably ever had to mark.
Defender Michael Faber was a freshman last season and only took positives from these matches. He is looking forward to growing along with the budding soccer program.
“It really gives you a good standing of where you’re at,” said Faber, a New Zealand native. “You have to push yourself to see not only where you stand, but where you can get to. To be getting games this early on is fantastic. From what’s been said and the footage we have and statistics, we’re only going up.”
UTRGV will play one home game during the preseason stretch. It will host St. Mary’s University at 3 p.m. April 9.
