Texas Border Business
EDINBURG, Texas – Rio Grande Valley FC (2-4-5) travels west to face fellow Western Conference side Orange County SC (2-7-4) on Saturday, June 3 at 9:00 p.m. CST.
Rio Grande Valley suffered a second consecutive home loss, this time at the hands of Charleston Batter, who managed to steal three road points at H-E-B Park led by a brace from Augie Williams who scored a solo goal and netted a penalty in the May 27 matchup to lock in the 2-0 win.
Discussion over the choice to select Carlos Merancio as the starting keeper over Tyler Deric was quickly addressed by Wilmer Caberera post-match as he described his desire to give the keeper as many minutes as possible this season to keep him in game shape in anticipation of a postseason berth or emergency use situation. Despite giving up two goals, Merancio showed great field vision and quality of play, the two goals were not entirely his fault as the back line allowed individual hiccups which caused the danger approaches from Charleston Battery.
As the schedule grows older, the urgency in earning points at home and away is growing. RGV FC are determined to turn things around as they seek their second consecutive road win in California, having successfully returned with three points from San Diego Loyal after a 3-2 victory on May 13, their last trip away.
The key to the match for the Toros will be a sharp focus on shot selection and putting the ball in the net. High shot attempt numbers with equal success on the scoreboard numbers need to correlate in order to claim a victory comfortably on the road this week. Last week the Toros shot over 20 times and were unable to break the shutout, Trey Muse saved a league high 10 shots in the match.
