UTRGV men’s soccer is set to kick off their 2021 spring season at 8 p.m. Saturday on the road versus the defending WAC champions, Seattle U.
Although the Vaqueros have not had an official match since a 0-1 defeat to Incarnate Word in the 2019 season finale, back on Nov. 9, 2019, they were able to play two closed-door exhibition games versus Texas A&M International University and St. Mary’s Wednesday and Sunday, respectively.
In a weekly news conference via Zoom, first-year UTRGV Head Coach Bryheem Hancock explained how the exhibition games provided clarity on the starting lineup as the season is a few days away.
“A lot of things that I had questions on I feel like now we answered and now it’ll be more about our focus of how we prep for our actual opponent now this regular season,” Hancock says.
The Redhawks boast a talented squad that includes WAC preseason offensive POTY, senior forward, Noe Meza and WAC preseason DPOY, senior defender, Alex Acton-Petronotis.
UTRGV senior forward William Akio was selected to the preseason all-WAC team alongside Redhawks’ junior goalkeeper Akili Kasim.
Seattle U also ranked first in the WAC preseason coaches’ poll while UTRGV was selected to finish 8th out of 11 teams.
Hancock said he is using the team’s preseason poll ranking to motivate his squad as they head into their weekend matchup.
“I said it to the guys, ‘it is no hidden secret, just look where the coaches put us in the league, they have us eight out of eleven teams’ Obviously, we don’t have the respect that we want so we have to earn it,” he says. “That’s going to be every time we show up, we have to be ready to compete and get results.”
When asked which individual players could help his team secure a victory versus Seattle U, Hancock instead highlighted his defensive unit.
“I think the cohesion of the group from the backline – I say a lot of time you got to form as one… — and I’ve think they’ve done that through preseason,” Hancock says.
With an attacking group that includes returners with the likes of Akio, sophomores Juan Rivera and Martin Tellez, junior Jan Engels and senior Nicolas Blake and veteran newcomers such as juniors Ricardo Turcis, Reshaun Walkes, Moaid Ankir and Alex Frank, Hancock expects their experience to stand out.
“In our attack we have guys that have been here two or three years,” Hancock says, “have played a lot of soccer matches, have done really well at the Division I level and I expect them on Saturday to go out and show that influence on the match.”
The Vaqueros will be looking for their first victory over the Redhawks as they have an 0-4-1 all-time record dating back to 2015.
You can watch the match live on the WAC Digital Network at wacdigitalnetwork.com.
Twitter: @Radio_Rubio
