- North Texas SC ended its 2022 regular season in fourth place in the Western Conference with a 13-6-5 record
- FC Dallas goalkeeper Jimmy Maurer made his MLS NEXT Pro debut
- FC Dallas Academy forward Tarik Scott made his first start for the club
- MLS NEXT Pro Box Score
Edwardsville, Illinois (Sept. 25, 2022) – North Texas SC was defeated 2-0 by St. Louis CITY2 in the Western Conference Semifinal at Ralph Korte Stadium Sunday night.
NORTH TEXAS SC’S 100TH OFFICIAL MATCH
North Texas SC played its 100th official match of the club’s history tonight in the Western Conference Semifinal versus St. Louis CITY2. In those 100 matches played, North Texas holds a 49-25-26 record since starting play in 2019 in the inaugural USL League One campaign.
PATHWAY
North Texas SC forward Bernard Kamungo signed a first team contract with FC Dallas on Aug. 30, 2022. The 20-year-old finished as North Texas’ leading scorer with 16 goals on the season, second most in MLS NEXT Pro. Kamungo originally joined the club in 2021 via its offseason open tryouts.
INTERNATIONAL DUTY
North Texas SC regulars Antonio Carrera, Nolan Norris and José Mulato were unavailable for this match due to international duty. Carrera and Norris were called up to the U-19 U.S. Men’s National Team for the Slovenia Nations Cup while Mulato was away with the U-20 Colombia National Team.
PA-MODOU KAH
In his first season as head coach, Pa-Modou Kah led North Texas SC to the Western Conference Semifinal with a regular season record of 13-6-5. Kah joined the club as its second-ever head coach from Pacific FC in the Canadian Premier League on Jan. 21, 2022.
Lineups
North Texas SC — Jimmy Maurer; Collin Smith, Lucas Bartlett, Will Baker (Blake Pope - 87’), Isaiah Parker (Pablo Torre - 83’); Carl Sainté, André Costa, Blaine Ferri; Bernard Kamungo, Tarik Scott (Luis Miguel - 75’), Hope Avayevu.
Substitutes not used — Julian Eyestone, Alejandro Araneda, Alejandro Urzua, Tomás Lacerda.
St Louis CITY2 — Michael Creek; Ben DiRosa, Joshua Yaro, Kyle Hiebert, Akil Watts; Vitor Dias (Wan Kuzain - 82’), Alex Palazzolo (Selmir Pidro - 78’), Max Schneider; Célio Pompeu, Isak Jensen (Dida Armstrong - 65’), Tomáš Ostrák (Ezra Armstrong - 83’)
Substitutes not used — Ian McGrane, Kwame Awuah, Sergio Rivas, Miguel Perez, Caden Glover.
Scoring Summary:
STL: Tomáš Ostrák — 74’
STL: Célio Pompeu (penalty kick) — 90’
Misconduct Summary:
NTX: Carl Sainté (caution) — 39’
STL: Joshua Yaro (caution) — 42’
NTX: Tarik Scott (caution) — 70’
STL: Ben DiRosa (caution) — 84’
Weather: Mostly Sunny, 76℉
Referee: Ricardo Fierro
Assistant Referees: Nicolas Vesia (1), Patrick Casey (2)
Fourth official: Luis Arroyo
North Texas SC Postgame Quotes
Head Coach Pa-Modou Kah
Overall thoughts on the match…
“It was an even-keeled game. It was a real playoff game from both sides. Congratulations first of all to St. Louis. But I think we battled, we played with everything we could. I feel so gutted for the boys because of all the work they’ve put in over the whole season. For the season to end now, it’s a little bit sad, I must say. For us, it’s about using this as a building block for the coming years. We had a story like Bernard Kamungo (signing with FC Dallas), it’s a great story for us. Hopefully there’s more stories to come. For right now, I’m really gutted for the players because they deserved more.”
On his first season as head coach for North Texas SC…
“It’s been a blessing, I’ve enjoyed every minute and every second of it. I’m very proud of the group. Every day they come in without complaining, they give their best every single day. I was really gutted to see them in the locker room. It’s a team with good potential and a lot of players that can continue to grow. I’m proud to be their coach and help them achieve the goals they want to achieve."
On the lessons from tonight’s game…
“Losing always hurts. You always want to be on the winning side. But not only tonight but the whole season we’ve been learning. We don’t like losing but that’s part of the game. It will sting for a couple of days but then we’ll get back to work.”
Midfielder Blaine Ferri
Overall thoughts on the game…
“St. Louis is a really good team. We knew it from the very first game of the season to now. These guys are fighting for MLS contracts so we knew it was going to be hard coming into it. It was a battle, it was the most intense game of the year. They had chances, we had chances and unfortunately we couldn’t finish them and they did. It could’ve gone either way. It’s unfortunate.”
On the emotions after the match…
“I look back on the year and I’m just so proud of the team. From where we started to where we are now, we’re a special team and I think we deserved to lift that trophy but sometimes it just doesn’t go in your favor. I’m going to remember this team forever, the relationships that I got from this team and all the hard work we put in, we created a bond together that I’ll never forget.”
