ST. LOUIS, Missouri (May 28, 2023) – North Texas SC (4-4-4, 16 points) rallied to earn a 2-2 draw with St Louis CITY2 (2-4-5, 15 points) before falling in the extra point shootout 5-4 at CITYPARK on Sunday night.
UNBEATEN STREAK
With 2-2 draw against St Louis CITY2, North Texas SC closes out May with a 1-0-4 record. In five matches, North Texas scored 12 goals and conceded only seven. North Texas SC averaged 2.4 goals per game throughout May.
STEPPING UP
FC Dallas Academy players Nayrobi Vargas and Diego Pepi scored for North Texas SC against St Louis CITY2. Vargas’ goal in the 41st minute marks the second consecutive game he’s netted a goal. Pepi scored the equalizing goal in the 62nd minute to mark his first professional goal.
ROAD RECORD
North Texas SC’s record on the road for the 2023 season sits at 2-2-2 with tonight’s draw. The club posted a 5-4-3 record away from home throughout the 2022 season.
UP NEXT
North Texas SC hosts LA Galaxy II on Sunday, June 4 at Choctaw Stadium. The match kicks off at 7:30 PM CT and will be available on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV.
Lineups
North Texas SC — Julian Eyestone; Alejandro Araneda, Henri Santos, Will Baker (Manuel Caicedo – 71’), André Costa; Carl Sainté, Theo Ferreira (Diego Hernandez – 61’), Alejandro Urzua (Diego García – 72’); Anthony Ramirez (Diego Pepi – 61’), Nayrobi Vargas (Santiago Ferreira – 85’), Tyshawn Rose.
Substitutes not used — Justin Stewart.
St Louis CITY2 — Michael Creek; Owen O’Malley (Sergio Rivas – 82’), Michael Wentze, Jonathan Bell, Selmir Pidro; Akil Watts (AJ Palazzolo – 84’), Max Schneider; Fysal Bettache (John Klein – 74’), Miguel Perez (Wan Kuzain – 64’), Isak Jensen; Aziel Jackson (Nathan Ferguson – 82’).
Substitutes not used — Christian Olivares, Fritz Volmar, Dida Armstrong, Larsen Hackworth.
Scoring Summary:
STL: Aziel Jackson (Akil Watts) – 2’
STL: Michael Wentze (Aziel Jackson) – 26’
NTX: Nayrobi Vargas (Tyshawn Rose) – 41’
NTX: Diego Pepi – 62’
Misconduct Summary:
STL: Michael Wentze (caution) — 3’
STL: Miguel Perez (caution) — 13’
NTX: Tyshawn Rose (caution) — 23’
NTX: Alejandro Urzua (caution) — 30’
STL: Selmir Pidro (caution) — 53’
STL: Owen O’Malley (caution) — 67’
NTX: Javier Cano (caution) — 74’
NTX: Tyshawn Rose (ejection) — 75’
NTX: Diego Garcia (caution) — 85’
STL: AJ Palazzolo (caution) — 89’
Weather: Sunny, 83°F
Post Game Quotes
Head Coach Javier Cano
On positives from the match…
“My feelings from the match are totally different from the previous ones. At halftime the team talk was very clear, that we need to be organized, fight, and wait for our moments to win the game. The positives were that the team came back with young players and people playing in different positions. We didn’t give up, we waited, pressed well and only gave them one good chance at the end. We were in control of the ball and, of course, I wanted to attack more, but at that moment we needed to solve the problem which we did really well.”
On the offensive performance…
“We’ve had some players move to the first team, so now we need to use prospects like Nayrobi who are next up. What Nayrobi does with the center backs is big for us like today with one player down he was pressing, jumping, fighting with the center backs and we need to remember he’s still only 17-years-old. When we put Diego Pepi on the field, I knew we needed to play with two forwards. Last game, with the different contracts we couldn’t do it but now we can and today when we used the 5-3-2 formation it turned out well. If we have José Mulato we’ll take it, if Nayrobi keeps scoring goals, if Pepi stays on fire, and if Pablo starts scoring goals, we’ll take all those players. We’re going to try to use all of them, while not conceding a lot, but yes scoring goals is a must”
Forward Diego Pepi
On what the team needs to improve on…
“The team has been doing well every game. The only issue I feel is that we need to learn how to close out games. When we concede we tend to put our heads down. Instead, we need to keep fighting and push ourselves to do better. That will help us a lot to keep our confidence up and to keep on going .”
On making an impact off the bench…
“Every time coach Javi gives me the opportunity to come into the match, I set myself with the mentality that I need to score. I am happy that I was finally able to score my first professional goal. When I came in, I kept seeing their two center backs follow Nayrobi (Vargas) to the first post. When I saw Tyshawn (Rose) lining up to send in a cross, I decided to make a run towards the back post. I was able to free myself up at the back post and tuck the ball into the back of the net.”
