North Texas SC Builds, Winning PK Shootout After Draw with STL2
As an appetizer to USA National Team action, North Texas SC served up a solid performance on the road against St Louis City SC 2, securing a vital point and winning the resulting PK shootout.
North Texas Soccer Club may not have secured the full three points, but they broke one curse on the road in St Louis - win a penalty kick shootout.
For those new to MLS Next Pro, draws lead to a PK shootout with an extra point on the line for the winning team. Last season, North Texas struggled in these opportunities, even after dominating some games.
But at least in 2024, that bad luck is over.
The match was a challenging one for North Texas, as St Louis was prepared to press high and force their guests from Frisco to battle for every pass out of their own half. For the first twenty minutes, North Texas struggled with a number of turnovers that gave the home side golden opportunities. But North Texas, behind goalkeeper Michael Collodi, survived.
A key moment came around the 20th minute when Diego Pepi went down with an apparent injury. During the stoppage in play, center back Amet Korca gathered his side for a chat. The next 25 minutes showcased a more confident team, leading to an opening goal from Tarik Scott when the ball ricocheted back to him.
This was Tarik Scott's first goal after missing last year due to an injury.
The second half witnessed a chess match, as North Texas sought to lock things down and St Louis pushed for the equalizer. That goal would come through Kyle Hiebert in the 82nd minute. Another set of mistakes from young players would send both Tarik Scott and Enes Sali off the pitch with their second yellows.
“It was a tough game against a good opponent. They are really organized defensively and are hard to break down. We try to continue to do the things that worked for us like possession and keeping the ball. We closed our spaces and made it difficult for them,” North Texas head coach John Gall said. “To get the first goal was really important for us. Tarik was out for a really long time, and it is great to get him back on the score sheet and playing with more confidence. Overall, we are happy with the bonus point, but we certainly wanted to come away with three points because that is the standard and expectation, we have set for ourselves. Certainly getting that extra point is a confidence booster for us going forward.”
After the match, Collodi remarked that away results like this can be crucial to a team’s identity.
“Away matches are always difficult. Travel can be exhausting, and then you are not playing what you are used to back home. The venue, atmosphere and fanbase can make it intimidating for teams that come here to St. Louis,” the goalkeeper said. “Echoing what John [Gall] said, the effort, heart and grit that we showed today proved how much we can do. I don’t think we had the best performance overall, and we know we must perform better overall. Like I told the boys in the locker room, the ability to get a result like that is a sign of a good team with better things to come.”
North Texas will look to continue to build with 3 points from the first two matches of the 2024 season. For their next match, they’ll have to do so without Sali, who is young but impressive, and Tarik Scott, who may be the best attacker on the squad right now.