Grand Prairie, TX – On Monday, Texas United were back in action at home in the AirHogs Stadium against division leaders AHFC Royals. After the full time whistle blew, Texas United emerged victorious and tightened the race for the top spot in the division.
From the initial kickoff, Texas United applied heavy offensive pressure, something all opponents in the Mid-South Division should be used to by now. Through the first 12 minutes of the match, both Dominick Hernandez and Armando Pelaez found space for shots, giving the offense a chance to settle in in the early minutes of the match.
After successfully possessing the ball in the next few minutes, Giovanni Montesdeoca was able to give the game and Texas United its first goal of match in the 18th minute. Armando Pelaez passed a square ball in the six-yard box and Montesdeoca was able to hit it into the back of the net from close range to give Texas United the early 1-0 lead.
The offensive pressure continued with Jorge Barrientos seeing his shot go just over the crossbar in the 27th minute. After the mandatory water break in the 30th minute, the AHFC Royals had their first opportunity of the match, but Texas United goalkeeper Hunter Harrison watched the ball go well wide of the post.
In the 42nd minute, Montesdeoca struck again to double the lead over the visitors. With the score reading 2-0 in favor of Texas United, the team headed to the locker room at halftime with a comfortable advantage.
The second half started with a number of early substitutions from Texas United, but it didn’t take long for the scoring to pick back up. In the 64th minute, Texas United’s lead increased to three thanks to an own goal from AHFC Royals goalkeeper Frederick Lorenzen.
In the 74th minute, Pelaez gave Texas United its fourth and final goal of the night. However, the AHFC Royals were able to grab one back in the 88th minute thanks to a penalty kick in the closing minutes. The final score read Texas United 4 and the AHFC Royals 1.
Goal scorer Armando shared his thoughts on the match. “I felt that the game was really good,” he said. “We got the three points and it’s putting us where we want in the table. It was just a great overall performance from the team starting from our goalie, to our defense, to our midfield, and to our forwards,” he continued.
New addition to the team Brandon Terwege also gave us his words on the match and the rest of the season. “The most important thing for us is to take it one game at a time,” he said. “All we can do is play to the best of our ability starting from the goalkeeper all the way up to the forwards and just do every single individual part right. Overall, doing this will put us in the best position to advance come playoffs,” he finished.
Finally, Patricio Garcia also gave insight on how this win was different than the last few matches. “We were able to shutout the game in the defense, and our forwards finished the opportunities that they were given. We fought hard all night for 95 minutes until the end of the game,” he said.
With only four games left of the regular season, Texas United sit third in the Mid-South Division, only one point behind leaders AHFC Royals and Brazos Valley Cavalry F.C. The team travels to Corpus Christi FC on Friday before returning home on Sunday in the match against OKC Energy U-23.
