Editor’s Note: This article was written before UTRGV’s Saturday match against the University of Incarnate Word. The results were not available at press time.
Head Coach Paul Leese has had the UTRGV Men’s Soccer Team on a steady climb from the ground up since the program’s revival in 2015.
After the Rio Grande Valley went 17 years without Division I Men’s Soccer, which ended with UTPA in 1997, UTRGV went 5-12-1 overall and 2-8 in conference play in its first season back in action, finishing dead last in the Western Athletic Conference.
A season ago, the Vaqueros finished sixth in conference with a record of 4-4-2 and 6-10-3 overall, qualifying for the conference tournament. The finish was good enough to qualify for the WAC Tournament in just the program’s second year.
Now in year three, the Vaqueros find themselves 6-6-3 (3-4-2) and fighting for a spot in the WAC Tournament before the team’s regular season finale Saturday against the University of Incarnate Word. Leese believes his squad has performed well thus far and is focused on getting them to execute and lock in for the full 90 minutes.
“We’ve got a core group that really understands what we’re trying to do,” he said. “They’re probably in a good rhythm of playing here, so I’m very happy with the performance. Once we started WAC play, I think we had a really good understanding of what we’re trying to do. We’ve been saying the same things, find a good rhythm within our style, make sure our work ethic is high for the entire 90 minutes and stay focused, so you don’t make mistakes.”
For the first time in WAC Tournament’s history, due to Grand Canyon University now being postseason eligible, seven teams will qualify for the field with the No. 1 seed receiving a first-round bye.
UTRGV entered Saturday in seventh place, just ahead of Utah Valley University, which shares the same conference record as the Vaqueros at 3-4-2 with 11 points. Right on their tail with nine points each are University of Missouri-Kansas City and UIW, which UTRGV could knock off and clinch a postseason berth.
The season finale doesn’t appear as favorable for the two teams directly trailing UTRGV, as UVU must get through second-place Seattle University while UMKC hosts first-place U.S. Air Force Academy.
UTRGV was 6-6-3 overall before Saturday’s meeting against UIW, which is 5-10-1 on the year. The teams exchanged wins on each other’s home field in 2016, with the Cardinals winning a 2-1 friendly last August and the Vaqueros getting revenge in conference play with a 2-0 win in October.
If UTRGV were to pick up a win, it would lock up a WAC Tournament appearance, but if they were to lose or draw to UIW, they will need help from other teams to help the Vaqueros squeeze into the postseason.
The team had a good showing in its first WAC Tournament match a season ago, but fell in the first round with a 3-2 loss to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Leese believes last year’s experience can benefit the group this season, especially in goal with 6-foot-3-inch redshirt-sophomore Esa Aalto, who had four saves in that match.
Junior Isidro Martinez, a Brownsville native, scored one of UTRGV’s two goals in that match and returns along with eight other players who have WAC tourney minutes under their belt, including team captain and redshirt-sophomore Jaakko Hietikko.
“I think we have a nice rhythm with all the guys who are able to score goals,” Hietikko said. “We don’t miss many chances and we score from the little chances we have. We definitely have to bring a very strong performance. We don’t have anything to lose.”
Sophomore forward Ilias Kosmidis is leading the team in goals with six scored, points with 15 and has pitched in three assists. After UTRGV picked up its first conference road win 3-1 over Houston Baptist University on Oct. 26, the team’s most dangerous scorer believes they now have confidence and are focused on getting another road win to guarantee the team another game in the WAC Tournament.
“We’re going to San Antonio and we have to get three points; that’s the only goal right now,” Kosmidis said. “I feel like we’re playing pretty well right now. We’ve been unlucky with some of the results, we hope for the win and we’re only going to hope for that and to get into the tournament and see how far we can take it from there.”
The WAC Tournament will be held in Las Vegas, Nev., at Peter Johann Memorial Field and is set to begin at 1 p.m. Wednesday as the four and five seeds will meet in the first round, followed by the three and six seeds at 4 p.m., with the last match of the day between the two and seven seeds kicking off at 7 p.m. All matches can be seen on the WAC Digital Network.
“To be quite honest, we’ve already said the tournament has already started for us because if we lose, we go home,” Leese said. “So, this is the tournament. If you want to keep going, you have to win, so we’re in that mentality. We just have to make sure we’re focused.”
