UTPB played a solid 89 minutes of soccer under very breezy conditions against UT Tyler Saturday in its Lone Star Conference home opener.
That one minute, however, provided highs and lows for the Falcons and the visiting Patriots.
UTPB’s Matias Pereira scored his first goal of the season at 80:31 of the contest to set off a celebration by the Falcons.
UT Tyler’s Nolan Giles then netted his fifth goal of the year just 11 seconds later to quiet UTPB and give his team a chance to cheer.
That proved to be all the scoring in the 1-1 tie at Falcon Field.
UTPB coach Victor Domingues credits the team’s perspective on that 80th-minute goal.
“Our philosophy is possession with the purpose of trying to go inside to get the ball out wide,” Domingues said. “We just did that.
“We kept the ball for a few minutes, and instead we played the ball back and it ended up being an easy goal.”
Falcons’ captain Gustavo Barroso credited Pereira’s hard work up to that point.
“(Pereira) deserves a lot of good things in his life,” Barroso said. “He always works hard. He beat one guy, ran through, and I gave an assist to him, and he scored.”
The Patriots made sure the celebration was short-lived, quickly attacking when play resumed, with Nolan Giles leveling the match with a scissor-kick marker from in front of the net.
Domingues believed that the UT Tyler’s quick starts from past games gave the Patriots the chance they needed in the game-tying goal.
“It was just a moment that we just switched off,” Domingues said. “We studied a lot of film and they liked to do quick restarts to catch other teams off-guard. “There was just one unfortunate action in the final minutes of the game that cost us a tie, but overall, I’m pleased with the performance of the guys,” Domingues said.
UTPB’s tie (2-2-3 overall, 0-0-1 in conference) was against one of the best teams in the Lone Star Conference in UT Tyler (5-1-2, 0-0-1), ranked eighth in the South Central Region.
“(The draw) was a good thing,” Barroso said. “We proved and made a statement this afternoon.”
The Falcons executed their game plan to perfection for the first 80 minutes of action, according to Domingues.
“It’s not the result that we want in the game, but they stuck to the game plan,” Domingues said. “(The game plan) was to focus on ourselves.
“Just keep the ball, keep moving and keep creating chances and getting into the final third. And obviously try to hit the back of the net; but, you know, defensively we were sound.”
That defensive mindset was on point after the team had allowed three, two and two goals their previous three games.
Domingues was satisfied that the team was attacking on all fronts, even with a scoreless first half.
“We created so many chances,” Domingues said. “We were in their final third the entire first half and we were inside the box as well.
“We were creating chances; their keeper just made some outstanding saves. It just shows just shows that we’re ready to compete against anybody in this conference.”
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