MIDLAND After being on the road for the first two games of the season, West Texas FC will finally play its home opener this week.
The team will face Austin United FC at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Astound Broadband Stadium.
Head coach David Ormiston and his players are looking forward to finally playing at home.
“It’s quite rewarding to be able to play in front of our own fans,” Ormiston said. “Being on the road, it’s an experience and an extra challenge but when you’re at home, you have your own support so we’ve been pretty excited all week.”
West Texas FC is currently 1-1-0 this season with three points in the Lone Star Conference in the National Premier Soccer League.
The team began the season with a 3-1 victory over the Lubbock Matadors on May 18 with goals by Ethan Stevenson, Liam Corr and Luke McCormick leading the way for West Texas.
West Texas FC suffered a setback, losing to the Denton Diablos 3-1 on May 23.
“We’re looking to bounce back,” Ormiston said. “We’ve had a good week of practice.”
Austin United FC has played two games more than West Texas has this season and sits at 1-1-2 with four points.
The team is coming off a 2-2 draw against Laredo.
“They’re a really good team,” Ormiston said. “They’ve brought in a lot of good players, a lot of Division I players. It’s going to be a tough test. They got a good result last week against Laredo, another top team in the conference. They could’ve won that game, arguably. It’s going to be a tough game for sure. We’re hoping to come out on top.”
Ormiston was hired earlier this year as the team’s new coach.
He comes in from St. Petersburg, Fla., with experience of playing and coaching at both the semiprofessional and collegiate levels.
He was an assistant at St. Mary’s in San Antonio in the Lone Star Conference, helping the team to a conference title in 2022 and was also on staff at Brazos Valley Calvary that same year.
He’s also served as the assistant director for the St. Petersburg Football Club.
“That’s been an awesome experience,” Ormiston said of this season. “I’ve been grateful. We’ve had different events with our fans throughout the City of Midland. We’ve gotten closer every day to them. Coaching these players has also been a great experience and I’m looking forward to the next couple of months.”
After this week, the team will be back on the road for three consecutive games, against Brownsville, Laredo and Fort Worth before returning home on June 20 to face Houston.
“I think with the summer league, it’s a short season. We’ve been able to get more sessions in and everybody is now understanding each other more and knowing each other’s movements more,” Ormiston said. “As the season continues, that’s going to be more apparent and hopefully, it’ll lead to better results.”
He also talked about the team chemistry as being one of the strengths for this year’s squad.
“Definitely the togetherness and the personality of the team,” Ormiston said. “That’s going to be really important as the season stretches. We have a lot of talent in this group and this coaching staff has been getting the best out of that. If we can continue to do that, we’ll have a great season.”
