MIDLAND With the regular season nearing its conclusion, the race for the National Premier Soccer League playoffs is heating up.
Sitting in fourth place and tied on points with Laredo, West Texas FC knows there’s not much room for mistakes.
The team will have a challenge this week when it faces Lone Star Conference-leading Denton at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Astound Broadband Stadium.
The top-four teams qualify for the playoffs and West Texas FC has three games remaining in the regular season.
This week’s game also presents an opportunity for West Texas FC to avenge an earlier loss to Denton.
The team suffered a 3-1 loss to Denton back on May 23 on the road.
“It’s an exciting game with the boys,” West Texas FC head coach David Ormiston said. “Our guys are eager to get this one back after the result that we had the last time against them. Unfortunately, we lost to them the last time but we’ve improved a lot on the road. The guys have gotten a lot more familiar with each other. I’m looking forward to this one and we’re hoping to get a result.”
Denton comes into the game with a 5-2-1 record and 17 points in the standings.
The team is coming off a 3-0 victory over Austin United FC last Saturday.
“I think we’re going to be more prepared and more familiar with the way we play,” Ormiston said. “You build those relationships the more you practice with each other and the more you play in games together. I think we’re definitely going to be more prepared and address the issues. Denton is still a good side. They’re top of the table, but we’re looking forward to it.”
>> COMING OFF A WIN: West Texas FC is currently riding a two-game winning streak, having defeated CF10 Houston FC 4-0 last Thursday at Astound Broadband Stadium.
“We’re really happy with it,” Ormiston said. “It was a good performance because it was the first home performance in awhile. There have been matches where we controlled the game and had a lot of chances but had about five minutes of lapses in concentration and it would cost us. I felt like that was our first game where we stamped all of that out. We got a positive result and a clean sheet.”
Goals from Ethan Stevenson (who had two), Olivier Correa and Vander Rocha ended up making the difference.
It was the second consecutive week that West Texas FC has scored four goals in a single game as the team also defeated the Fort Worth Vaqueros 4-2 the week prior.
>> CLEAN SHEET: Last week’s victory was also the first time this season that West Texas FC posted a clean sheet.
Goalkeeper Christian Sekanina would be credited with the shutout victory.
“The back line was excellent in that game,” Ormiston said. “Christian in goal was commanding and he made big saves which is what you have to do. I think when you’re controlling the pace of the game, it can be easy to lose concentration but he was excellent as well as the back line. It was a point of reference for us that week in training to keep a clean sheet and keep our focus and not have any lapses.”
