MATCH NOTES
- North Texas SC defender Manuel Caicedo made his first start
- Forward Hope Avayevu scored his second and third goals of the season
- Goalkeeper Antonio Carrera recorded eight saves
- MLS NEXT Pro Box Score
DENVER, CO (April 30, 2023) – North Texas SC (3-4-0, 9 points) with 10-men fell to Colorado Rapids 2 (5-0-1, 16 points) 4-2 at University of Denver Soccer Stadium on Sunday night.
GO ON HOPE
Forward Hope Avayevu scored his second goal of the season with a first-half penalty before adding another in the 49th minute to register the first brace of his professional career. The 20-year-old now has eight career goals and 11 assists for North Texas.
LA MURALLA STEPPING UP
Goalkeeper Antonio Carrera recorded eight saves in tonight’s match versus Colorado Rapids 2. Tonight’s saves equaled his career-high set on July 22, 2022, at St Louis CITY2 in a 2-0 loss.
2023 NTSC DEBUTS
Colombian defender Manuel Caicedo was the 14th player to make their competitive North Texas SC debut in the 2023 MLS NEXT Pro season. In his first start for the club, Caicedo won three tackles, recorded two clearances and completed 30 passes.
APRIL RECORD
North Texas SC closed out the month with a 2-4-0 record. The club won its two games versus LA Galaxy II (1-0) on the road and MNUFC2 (2-1) at Choctaw Stadium.
UP NEXT
North Texas SC hosts St Louis CITY2 at Choctaw Stadium on Sunday, May 7 at 7:30PM. The match will be available to watch on MLSNEXTPro.com.
Lineups
North Texas SC — Antonio Carrera; Malachi Molina, Henri Santos, Manuel Caicedo, Tyshawn Rose; Alejandro Urzua (Diego Hernandez – 73’), Carl Sainté; Herbert Endeley, André Costa (Theo Ferreira – 90’), Hope Avayevu (Yeicar Perlaza – 62’); José Mulato (Nayrobi Vargas – 73’).
Substitutes not used — Justin Stewart, Alejandro Araneda.
Colorado Rapids 2 — Adam Beaudry; Steve Flores (Joshua Hardin – 84’), Daniel Garcia, Blake Malone, Logan Batiste; Connor Miller, Daouda Amadou, Oliver Larraz; Marlon Vargas (Caique – 90’+2’), Rémi Cabral (Pariss Mitchel – 80’), Yosuke Hanya (Dillon Serna) – 80’.
Substitutes not used — Diego Gurrola, Robinson Aguirre, Keith Chavarria.
Scoring Summary:
NTX: Hope Avayevu (penalty kick) — 23’
NTX: Hope Avayevu (José Mulato) — 48’
COL: Blake Malone (Oliver Larraz) — 57’
COL: Yosuke Hanya (Daouda Amadou) — 63’
COL: Oliver Larraz (Yosuke Hanya) — 64’
COL: Logan Batiste (Connor Miller) — 75’
Misconduct Summary:
NTX: Hope Avayevu (caution) — 23’
COL: Yosuke Hanya (caution) — 26’NTX: Herbert Endeley (caution) — 35’
NTX: Tyshawn Rose (caution) — 45’+2’
COL: Daouda Amadou (caution) — 48’
NTX: Tyshawn Rose (ejection) — 52’
COL: Rémi Cabral (caution) — 75’
NTX: Yeicar Perlaza (caution) — 83’
Weather: Sunny, 70°F
Post Game Quotes
Head Coach Javier Cano
His thoughts on the result…
“I’m very disappointed because we are not far from Colorado’s performance. We were 2-0 up but the red card changed the game. We were not mature enough, that was my message to the team. We need to learn from that situation. We need to fight for ourselves with one player down. At the end, we conceded, and we were very vulnerable behind our fullbacks, and they created chances for them.”
On the defensive changes during the game…
“After the red card, we put Malachi (Molina) on the left side. He’s still just 16 years old so they were trying to create 2v1s on his side. We had Manuel (Caicedo) playing his first game and his effort was fantastic. We tried to adjust and modify it a little bit. It’s a mixture of everything. We need to read these cues for that and be more conscious. When the ball bypasses us, we need to be together. We were lacking this, and they took advantage of that. They have a very clear style of play, when they cross the ball they have a lot of numbers in the box, and we were not secure, and they took advantage.”
On the lessons from the game…
The lesson is that we need to manage the game. We were a man down and we’ve practiced with those handicaps. We worked on self-control and how to manage the situations we can control. Today, there were a lot of factors. Red card, attitude. We need to learn about this. We are a very young team but there is no pressure here. They need to learn because if we don’t, we’ll lose a lot of games. We aren’t far from the top and not in a bad position, but we need to get better results.”
Goalkeeper Antonio Carrera
General thoughts on the match…
“Sometimes that is the cruel side of football you see. We were up 2-0 with 11 players versus 11, and then we got a red card. There was a moment where we lost our heads and it happened. I thought our boys had a great and strong performance when we had 11 players on the field, but we need to learn to keep it that way if we are ever to go a man down again.”
On where it went wrong…
“The red card affected us because that shifted the momentum of the game in their favor. We did not manage it in the right way. I will say we do have a lot of young players, but that is not an excuse. This game will be used as a learning lesson, so next time we face a similar scenario, we will be more prepared.”
On what the team could work on midweek…
“As a young side, we gain more experience every game and in every training session. All of us are going to take this game and use it as motivation for training during the week and for our next match. We are all brothers, and we got each other's back. We will work to improve and bounce back for the next one.”
