TYLER, Texas – Two early second-half goals from
Steven Chavez turned a 2-0 halftime score into a rout, as UT Tyler posted a 6-0 win over Southwestern Assemblies of God University on Friday night.
Chavez was joined by four other goal scorers, as
Birkir Eydal and
Sergio Sola scored in the first half while
Shane Popieluch and
Michael Agyeman added second-half goals for the final 6-0 margin. Defensively, the Patriots limited the Lions to a single first-half shot, which
Parker O'Quinn saved before splitting the shutout three ways with
Giancarlo Ayanegui and
Cameron Bayer. The cleansheet was the fourth consecutive shutout produced by UT Tyler, extending its scoreless minutes streak to 399.
With the win, UT Tyler is now 4-1 on the season heading into the final non-conference match of the season, which is a Saturday night visit to DBU in Dallas. Southwestern Assemblies of God drops to 1-7-1.
How It Happened: UT Tyler dominated possession in the first half, controlling the ball twice as long as the Lions, posting a possession margin of 67%-33% before halftime. That produced 12 Patriot shot attempts in the first half, and freshman
Birkir Eydal broke through midway through the half, scoring his first goal of the season in the 24
th minute off an assist from
Ramiro Alvarez. Freshman midfielder
Sergio Sola added a goal in the 42
nd minute to extend the lead to 2-0 heading into halftime.
It took UT Tyler less than two minutes to add to its lead, when
Steven Chavez scored his first of two goals with an assist from
Carlos Medina in the 47
th minute. Chavez added an unassisted score in the 64
th minute to push the lead to 4-0.
Shane Popieluch scored just past the 71-minute mark, assisted by Dario Rossell, and
Michael Agyeman scored his second goal of the year with an 83
rd-minute score off an assist from
Hector Rivera to round out the scoring.
By The Numbers:
Steven Chavez became the first UT Tyler player this season with more than one goal, pushing his season total to three with Friday's two-goal performance…
Michael Agyeman joined him later in the game with his second goal of the season… All other scorers registered their first goal of the year… UT Tyler recorded 12 shots in each half, finishing with a 24-1 advantage in total shots… The Patriots controlled possession by a 2-to-1 margin in the first half (67%-33%) and finished the game controlling 64 percent of the possession... Nearly 70 percent of UT Tyler's possession came on SAGU's half of the field… The Patriots finished with 11 corner kicks without conceding one… Twenty-five players saw action, with everyone playing at least 16 minutes while 24 of the 25 players logged at least 25 minutes of action.
What's Next: The Patriots conclude non-conference play on Saturday with a visit to DBU. Although DBU is a member of the Lone Star Conference, Saturday's matchup will not count in the conference standings as the teams will meet in Lone Star play on Nov. 2 in Tyler. The Lone Star Conference opener for UT Tyler is Thursday, Oct. 3, at home against NCAA Division II's No. 5-ranked West Texas A&M.
Quotable (UT Tyler head coach Kenny Jones): "We've been working with a lot of players individually, and tonight gave us an opportunity to see if they could improve on some of the things they've been working on. At the same time, it can be a real challenge to maintain the standard with such a young team, and I thought we did a good job of that tonight."
"Some of the things we learned in our non-conference schedule are that we have a really good group of seniors and good leadership, and I can tell that all the guys are really trying. That always comes with mistakes and growing pains, but they're continuing to be studious and giving the right effort, and I'm happy about that."
Postgame Interview (via @UTTylerPatriots Twitter) with UT Tyler senior Steven Chavez
