
Scorpions Blitz TWU; Advance To Regional Semis
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Enrique Rivera |
Posted November
3, 2007
The
UTB/TSC Scorpions are picking a good time to be on a roll in their first
season with soccer on campus.
Enrique Rivera scored three goals to lead the Scorpions to a surprisingly easy 5-0 victory over Texas Wesleyan University in a NAIA Region VI first-round game at Morningside Park before 800 fans.
The win boosts the third-seeded Scorpions into the regional semifinals against second-seeded Oklahoma City University, the NAIA's 13th-ranked team in the country.
Saturday's game was the last home game of the 2007 season.
UTB/TSC will bring a 14-4-1 record into the game, an identical record to OCU.
The Scorpions will come into the game riding a five-game winning streak and two straight shutouts over TWU.
"We saved our best performance till the last game of the season," Scorpion head soccer coach Dan Balaguero said. "What a great way to end our home season. The fans were great again tonight, it is a real pleasure playing at home."
Rivera had his best game since joining the Scorpions. In a scoreless game, he came into the game in the 36th minute in place of forward Fernando Mendoza.
His first goal was a quick attack. Stuart Rodgers executed a beautiful 40-yard pass down the right side to Rivera who beat his defender to the ball toward the TWU goal. Rams' goalkeeper Joakim Soderbaum came out to try to thwart Rivera's charge, but the soft kick glazed off of Soderbaum's back and rolled slowly into the net in the 40th minute.
That turned out to be the only goal the Scorpions would need. The 1-0 halftime lead quickly grew early in the second half.
Rivera took a rebound from a missed shot and nailed the right corner of the goal in the 48th minute, three minutes into the second half.
In the 59th minute, Ricky Rodriguez was tripped up inside the box, drawing a foul for a penalty kick. Balaguero and the players on the bench wanted Rivera to get a hat trick, and Rivera came through and pushed his goal to the right, giving the Scorpions a 3-0 lead in the 59th minute.
Just two minutes later, Rodriguez got his goal off a feed from Marco Malovic and scored in the 61st minute to make it 4-0. Fernando Mendoza capped off the scoring with a goal in the 77th minute with an assist by James McCarron.
"All the players had great nights, I'm very happy for Enrique, his hat-trick was well deserved," Balaguero said. "Pablo (Degollado), Fili(berto Cortinas) and Ricky (Rodriguez) were all tremendous tonight."
The Scorpions took 21 shots compared to seven for TWU. Scorpion goalkeeper Juan Gamboa had five saves.
