Vaqueros drop physical duel to No. 20 Redhawks

The UTRGV Men’s Soccer Team lost tonight 1-0 to the No. 20 Seattle University Redhawks in a physical match at the Soccer and Track & Field Complex on the Edinburg campus.

 This is the Vaqueros’ fourth loss in a row, bringing their record to 4-8-0 overall, and their conference record to 1-4.

The Redhawks, who were undefeated in their previous five matches, extended that streak to six and improved to 8-2-3 overall, and 3-0-1 in Western Athletic Conference matchups.

From the opening whistle, it was clear the match would be a physical contest. In the first half, the Redhawks and Vaqueros drew three and four fouls, respectively.

When asked about the physicality of the game, UTRGV head coach Bryheem Hancock replied, “we knew it was gonna be a physical game. [The Redhawks] are always physical, that’s just their style of play. We needed to match that and I thought we did just that. We didn’t get the scoreboard to go our way tonight.”

The Redhawks settled in and dominated the first half of the game putting up nine shots, with five on goal. Meanwhile, the Vaqueros struggled to attack, only putting up one total shot with none on goal.

The consistency and aggression of the Redhawks’ attack allowed them to open the scoring in the 34th minute on a header from senior forward James Morris, assisted by sophomore midfielder Yeider Zuluaga. This put the Redhawks up 1-0, which would hold through the first half.

The second half would be just as physically grueling as the first. Both teams drew an additional four fouls in the second half, with the Vaqueros picking up four yellow cards.

Yellow cards were drawn by sophomore midfielder Cade Erickson in the 51st minute, senior defender Alberto Ontiveros in the 61st minute, junior midfielder Jose Camacho in the 76th minute and sophomore defender Joaquin Suarez in the 81st minute.

A highlight of the match was an incredible performance from graduate goalkeeper Garret Wild, who finished the game with eight saves and had several crucial stops throughout the match.

“I thought he did a good job of just keeping the game calm and under control, which helped our back line,” Hancock said. “That’s what we expect out of the grad student. He did a good job tonight.”

The Vaqueros found their stride toward the end of the game as they had an additional four shots in the second half, including a chance to equalize in the 89th minute. However, they fell short and the game would end in a 1-0 victory for Seattle University.

The Vaqueros will play their next game against the Air Force Falcons at 5 p.m. Oct. 19 in Air Force Academy, Colorado for the first game of two on the final road trip of the regular season.