CANYON, TEXAS – West Texas A&M Men's Soccer opened their season Thursday afternoon at The Pitch against the Adams State Grizzlies and captured a 4-0 clean sheet. Junior
Myles Taylor and senior
Felix Casas compiled three points each as the Buffs scored three goals in the second half.
The Buffaloes came out of the gates strong as they landed four shots on goal in the first 24 minutes of the game.
D'Jonte Davis,
Renson Jr. Sayers,
Ben Scotford, and
Octavio Estrada-Vazquez all produced quality chances but were unable to find the back of the net. WT stayed persistent on the offensive end as they continued to apply pressure on Adams State throughout the first half. The Buffs were stout defensively as they controlled possession but also limited the Grizzlies to only two shots in the first half with neither landing on goal. The 30th minute saw the Buffs break through as
Damron Atkins crossed a ball from the left corner into the box.
Franky Oviedo would make first contact before
Myles Taylor headed the ball for a shot, but it would be saved by Bryan Amezcua. Taylor stuck with the chance off the rebound and scored a header to give the Buffs a 1-0 lead. West Texas A&M would take that lead into the halftime break.
Moving into the second half, the offense continued to hum as West Texas A&M scored two goals in the opening three minutes. The first of the two came off a throw in from Davis who put great touch on the ball as he slung in into the box in front of the Buffs bench. Taylor would win the ball as he hit it over to Casas. The senior made a quick swim move to corral the ball and fired a sliding kick with his left foot to extend the lead to 2-0. In the 48th minute it was Casas again creating a scoring chance as he delivered a beautiful ball off a corner kick right in front of the box. Junior
Oumar Berete showed off the vertical with a great leap to head the ball into the meshing as the Buffs now led 3-0. West Texas A&M continued to lock down defensively as the Grizzlies struggled to create offensive chances. As time ticked away, WT would add one more goal in the 89th minute by way of freshman
Alon Ben Ami. On a quick counter by the Buffs,
Ido Einstein pushed a pass through three Grizzlies near the top of the box. While in stride,
Edward Acosta backtapped the ball with his left foot to a streaking Ben Ami who fired the ball into the top left corner for the exclamation point. The score would finalize at 4-0 with the Buffs coming away with the shutout victory to open 2026.
Top Buffs
- Felix Casas set a career-high with three points coming from a goal and assist. Casas played 63 minutes and added three shots with two landing on goal.
- Myles Taylor also scored three points from a goal and an assist in his first game as a Buff. Taylor played 63 minutes at forward and totaled three shots with all three landing on goal.
- Alon Ben Ami played 33 minutes and scored his first collegiate goal to go with two shots which both landed on goal.
Notables
- West Texas A&M moved to 26-5-4 all-time in season openers with a 17-4-1 record at The Pitch.
- The Buffs are now 3-0-0 all-time against Adams State.
- WT led the game in shots (19-6), shots on goal (15-1), and corner kicks (9-1).
- 14 different Buffs played in their first career game for West Texas A&M including Bobby Murphy, Franky Oviedo, Taylor, Renson Jr. Sayers, Oumar Berete, Damron Atkins, Ivan Vegas Martin, Joseluis Diaz, Gianluca Pedroso, Khalid Sankoh, Gio Lopez, Christian De La Rosa, Ben Ami, and Acosta. Murphy, Oviedo, Taylor, Sayers, Berete, and Atkins would all start in their debuts.
- Five different Buffs recorded their first career point for WT including Taylor, Ben Ami, Berete, Eistein, and Acosta.
- Oumar Berete played 62 minutes in the midfield and fired one shot in for a goal.
- Bobby Murphy played all 90 minutes on the backline.
- Luke Southerington started in goal and compiled one save in 90 minutes.
- D'Jonte Davis, Ido Einstein, and Edward Acosta all added an assist. Davis added two shots (one on goal) in 82 minutes while Eistein also recorded a shot.
- Octavio Estrada-Vazquez and Damron Atkins each notched two shots in 79 and 77 minutes respectively. Estrada-Vazquez landed one shot on goal while Atkins landed both of his.
- Ben Scotford, Franky Oviedo, and Renson Jr. Sayers all added one shot on goal.
Up Next
The Buffs will be back in action on Saturday, August 29 as they host Fort Lewis College at The Pitch with a 1:00 p.m. kickoff.
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