The oftentimes beautiful game on occasion can be cruel as UTRGV men’s soccer (5-1-2, 5-1-2) fell 0-1 Monday afternoon against Dixie State (3-6-0, 3-6-0) at the UTRGV Soccer and Track & Field Complex.
In a game the Vaqueros seemingly dominated from start to finish holding a sizable advantage in statistical categories such as shots (14-8), shots on goal (8-5) and corners (16-2).
Yet, the fork-in-the-road moment for the Vaqueros came in the 68th minute as captain and junior defender Elyad Shojaei attempted to clear a cross from junior defender Matt Lockwood for a corner but instead the ball took a bad bounce and made its way towards the back of the net for an own goal.
Lockwood would be credited with his first goal of the season on an assist from freshman forward Duncan McKenna.
In a postgame news conference via Zoom, UTRGV Head Coach Bryheem Hancock spoke to the lucky breaks not falling his team’s way.
“It’s tough when you give an own goal up,” Hancock said. “Especially when you look at it. It’s just the game of soccer sometimes doesn’t go your way.”
The Vaqueros had an opportunity in the closing second of the match to even the score with a junior midfielder Renan Dos Santos shot but it was cleared off the line by a Trailblazer defender.
UTRGV now drops their first game of the season but Hancock was impressed with his team’s bounce back defensive performance after allowing three first half goals last Wednesday against Houston Baptist University before coming back and winning 4-3 in overtime.
“I thought today we did a lot better 1v1 not just from our backs but also our midfielders and just making sure we were focused,” Hancock said. “Focus was where it needed to be today and I felt good about the match, like I felt any match this season.”
Next on the docket for the Vaqueros, as they close out the regular season, will be a home matchup against the Cardinals of Incarnate Word noon Friday.
When asked about preparing for the final match before the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Tournament, Hancock said the current focus lies solely in recovery and sharpening up the offense.
“Some of our runs in the box are a little bit stagnant so we’ll clean that up,” he said. “Just getting guys back healthy again. We’ll have guys back which will obviously help with the guys that played today.”
To watch the match live, visit the WAC Digital Network.
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