North Texas SC Suffer Defeat in Home Opener

Giving up three goals against St Louis City 2 at home in a rematch of last season's MLS Next Cup game, NTSC remain confident.

(Image courtesy of the North Texas social media crew.)

In Choctaw Stadium, in front of a noisy crowd, North Texas Soccer Club couldn’t make home-field advantage work like last season, when they stormed their way to the best record in the league and ultimately claimed the championship trophy.

Instead, three goals from visiting St Louis City SC 2 doomed a joyous start to the season.

After the match, head coach John Gall acknowledged how tough it is for any team to go down early and claw their way back. For North Texas, an own goal given up in the 2nd minute was followed by two more, making the task even more monumental for a side that debuted eight new players. The inexperience and lack of cohesion showed as the team struggled in moments to keep the ball, transition forward, and finish chances.

Of course, there were chances for North Texas, courtesy of crosses from debutant Sam Sarver. The best two came late in the second half, but both Sarver and Tarik Scott couldn’t power the balls past the St Louis keeper.

Time and time again, North Texas were able to get the ball into attacking positions but crosses struggled to find a waiting player or were handled easily by St Louis City.

With such a young side, the struggle and slow start may be expected.

Other debutants included SuperDraft pick Mohammed Cisset, Ian Charles, Gianluca Cangiano, Gavin Gall, Caleb Swann, and Josh Torquato.

Enzo Newman also made a debut for the team tonight, joining a few senior team players who got the start to continue their development.

John Gall was not panicking after the result, recognizing that the result could have gone in different ways if North Texas had been able to get an early goal past the opponent.

“A couple of individual errors that cost us the second and third goal. It’s hard to assess the group and team. Football is about moments,” Gall said. “I was proud of the fight and mentality of the group. We certainly are not happy with this in any way shape or form. We’d rather get these lumps and bumps out of the way earlier in the season. This will make us better, more determined to be better than what we are right now.”

Likewise, Diego Garcia told media that the physicality that St Louis brought was something the team struggled with and will grow from. The game might have been a wakeup call for just how tough Next Pro is becoming as a league with lots of hungry players looking to stake their claim to the next level.

On Friday, North Texas welcome Vancouver Whitecaps 2 and hope to improve from this opening game disappointment.