Photo Courtesy UTRGV Athletics
Karina Rodriguez | THE RIDER
The UTRGV Men’s Soccer team, which entered the Western Athletic Conference Tournament as the second seed April 10, lost 1-0 on Thursday against sixth-seed U.S. Air Force Academy in Las Vegas.
It was the second time in program history the team entered the tournament as the No. 2 seed.
The Vaqueros finished their season with a conference record of 6-2-2, landing them second in the WAC, behind Grand Canyon University.
UTRGV made two shots on goal, compared to the Falcons’ six shots, according to goutrgv.com.
Before the tournament, UTRGV Men’s Soccer Coach Bryheem Hancock said the team had plans to assess some of its past games to get ready for the future ones.
“The major things [are] just that we have to look back at the games that we played over the season [and] look at some of the plays that maybe broke down and led to [our] opponent scoring goals,” Hancock said in a news conference Monday.
UTRGV Men’s Soccer defender Elyad Shojaei said this season had been about proving the talent that the soccer team has.
“I think a lot of our success has been just our ambition and our drive because, in the preseason polling, we ranked eighth,” Shojaei said Monday. “A common theme for us this season was just to play with a chip on our shoulders to prove the other team [and] the conference wrong, because they didn’t really rate us [high] at the beginning of the season. I think that’s been our biggest factor in helping us get this far.”
