FRISCO, Texas – Immediately following FC Dallas’ 2-2 thriller against Montreal Impact, North Texas SC took to the Toyota Stadium pitch to face off against SMU in its fourth preseason match of the year. When the evening was all said and done, it was North Texas that walked away on top with a 2-0 win.
"It's amazing what playing over and over again can achieve, but we just didn't have that today," head coach Eric Quill said. "We're building towards that the more the first team guys come into this integration. They'll get there, but it looked like preseason. It was sloppy at times, but there were some good spells of play that I was really proud of."
The initial lineup included Carlos Avilez, Bryan Reynolds, Nkosi Burgess, Philip Ponder, Eddie Munjoma, Edwin Cerrillo, Juan Manuel Alvarez, Thomas Roberts, Anders Engebretsen, Dante Sealy and Alex Bruce.
It was Bruce who opened the scoring from close range in the ninth minute, netting his first goal for the club. The forward hit the post 14 minutes later, after some good play with Engebretsen.
"It was good [to score]," Bruce said. "That's my job. It's good to kick off preseason with two goals and hopefully build from that."
Bruce continued his form in the second half with another expertly taken finish inside the six in the 63rd minute. Ronaldo Damus, who entered the game only a few minutes prior, provided the assist with a cross from the left wing.
