The MSU Texas soccer team had their first opening preseason game on Saturday, Feb 6 at Stang Park, against University of Mary-Hardin Baylor, that ended 0-1, with the Mustangs getting defeated.

By half time, the score was still tied 0-0, with MSU having three corner kicks and seven goal attempts. Huzen Marc-Antoine (No. 29), goalie and business junior, blocked four attempted goals by Mary-Hardin in the first half.

Patrick Fitzgerald, assistant men’s soccer coach, said that after reflecting on the game, the team did not produce what they are capable of.

“There’s no doubt we were beginning to improve towards the later stages of the game, but we understand, that’s not good enough from a Midwestern State team,” Fitzgerald said.

Fitzgerald said it is easy to think about changes after the game has finished. He said that it comes down to regrouping, going again and meeting the expectations that the team sets for themselves.

“Thankfully we don’t have time to feel sorry for ourselves because we are right back on it Tuesday night…. We go into every single game expecting to win and this season will be no different,” Fitzgerald said.

Tristian Adams (No. 16), defender and junior sports & leisure redshirt freshman, said that although he feels he played good, the team needs to work on finishing and be more composed between the keeper and defense. Adams expects to secure his spot as starting 11 this season and help lead the team to win a national tournament in the fall.

“In the end, it doesn’t matter if I played good because of the end result. It was obvious that we were creating so many more chances and showing that we can really play towards the end. We didn’t really start playing until [there was] 30 minutes left in the game. For training, we are going to work on different ways and combinations to get in front of the goal and finish, since we had so many opportunities but no clear chances or goals,” Adams said.

In total, MSU had 14 attempted shots and eight corner kicks but zero goals.

The next soccer game will be this Tuesday, Feb. 9 against Southern Nazarene at 5:30 p.m at Stang Park.