STRONG SEASON COMES TO DISAPOINTING END |
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BROWNSVILLE, TX: In a rematch of the Red River Athletic Conference Championship, the Texas Wesleyan University men’s soccer team (9-9-2) was defeated by UT-Brownsville (14-4-1) in first round action of the NAIA Region VI Tournament.
One week after the two teams played to a scoreless draw and the RRAC title came down to penalty kicks, UT-Brownsville took a 5-0 win over the Rams.
The Scorpions led 1-0 at the half on a goal by Enrique Rivera. River scored again at the start of the second half and made it a hat-trick in the 61st minute. Less than a minute later Ricki Rodriguez put the game out of reach with the Scorpion’s fourth goal of the day. UTB would add one more tally in the 78th minute.
The Rams had a solid season making their second Region VI Tournament appearance in the last three years. At 4-2-1 in conference play, they earned the second seed in the RRAC Tournament, where they defeated defending champion Huston-Tillotson in penalty kicks before falling in a shootout to UTB.
Seven Rams were named to the All-RRAC team including seniors Eddie Hernandez, Seth Mullins, and Ekene Onuoha who were all 1st-team selections. Along with Brad Egan the Rams’ seniors led the program to 33 wins, two Region VI Tournament appearances, and the programs first RRAC title, which came in 2005. “This game was not indicative of the year these guys put together,” commented head coach Josh Gibbs. “It is disappointing to end with a 5-0 loss, but this group did a great job all year. They battled through some injuries to key players. There were several times when we played three and four games a week without our full compliment of players. To come through that, reach the conference final and go to the region tournament say’s a lot about these guys. I’m very proud of them.” |
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