by John Cusick
Striker Roy Abergil continued his scoring ways this past weekend as he led the Colorado Mesa Mavericks’ soccer team to a 2-0 record.
The Mavericks traveled to Durango to take on the Fort Lewis Skyhawks.
The game was scoreless going into halftime as the Mavericks could not find the back of the net despite outshooting the Skyhawks 10-5 in the first half. Not only did they have a sizable advantage in shots, the Mavericks also had a lead in corner kicks as they had 5 to the Skyhawks 1.
In the second half, it was the Skyhawks who came out as the aggressor as they outshot the Mavericks 11-4, and three of those were on target as Briley Guarneri finished with three saves on the afternoon.
It was not until the 81 minute mark when the Mavericks were able to score. It came from the duo of Moshe Perez and Roy Abergil. After a foul was committed by the Skyhawks, Perez took a free kick and sent it into the box and was able to find his teammate Abergil for his 11th goal of the season.
That victory sent the Mavericks to their fourth consecutive victory as they looked to head back home and take on the Adams State Grizzlies.
The Mavericks came into their game on Sunday with a record of 5-1-3 as they looked to improve that record against the struggling Grizzlies who were 4-5-0 and had lost their last three games, including a 1-0 loss against Westminster College earlier that week.
After a sluggish first half the Mavericks were able to find some momentum immediately in the second half.
“You know, we didn’t play poorly. We really just lacked some urgency with what we were doing in the first half,” head coach Todd Padgett said of his team in the first half.
A minute into the second half Abergil was able to find some space in the box after Perez dropped the ball off to him. The goal was his 12th of this season.
“Moshe played me a through ball. I turned, I was looking actually to pass the ball for one of my teammates. When I saw that everyone’s closed I just took a touch and hit it,” Abergil said of his quick strike goal in the second half.
Abergil was once again was able to score as the game was nearly over after teammate Malik Mennana slotted the ball through to find Abergil for an easy finish, and his 13th goal of the year.
The Mavericks improved to 6-1-3 on the year while the Grizzlies fell to 4-6-0.
“Defensively, we’ve been good so far this year. But I think we’ve looked great really the last two games […] and I think you’re going to be a difficult team to beat if you’re a difficult team to score on,” Padgett said.
The Mavericks will play at home again on Friday, Oct. 7, as they take on the Colorado School of Mines Orediggers at 7 p.m. The Orediggers beat the Mavericks twice last year and Abergil noted how big the upcoming game was.
“We’ve been waiting to face Mines since last year. They beat us twice. […] Mines [is] probably the biggest game of the year right now.”
