Saturday, May 19, 2012
AUSTIN, Texas -- The Austin Aztex won their home opener 6-1 against the El Paso Patriots on Saturday with Kristopher Tyrpak scoring a hat trick for the Aztex in front of a crowd of 2,507 near downtown Austin at House Park.
“Its great, the fans were going ecstatic and it made me a happier,” said Tyrpak on his three goals. “But I have to get all the credit to my teammates that set me up perfectly.”
The Aztex (3-1-0) controlled the game for the first 15 minutes, but saw three shots go just wide. But the breakthrough came in the 16th minute after a run from Zack Pope opened up the Patriots defense. Pope’s pass found Kekuta Manneh, who only had the El Paso keeper, Victor Rodriguez, to beat. Manneh faked out Rodriguez, and the Patriots goalie was given a straight red for fouling Manneh in the penalty area. Tony Rocha converted from the spot for his third goal of the season beating Ivan Meza, the substitute keeper.
Down a man, El Paso was forced to play defensively, and the Aztex capitalized four minutes after their first goal. In the 21st minute, Jesus ‘Chuy’ Cortes crossed the ball with the outside of his right foot and Tyrpak notched his first of the night with a diving header.
Cortes also set up Austin’s third goal with the outside of his right boot. Manneh and Dillon Powers started the move with a nice one-two outside the box, and Manneh would pass to Cortes on the left wing. William Morse finished off Cortes’ cross in the 26th minute for the Aztex’s third goal.
El Paso’s Michael Griego put the ball in the back of the net after collecting the rebound from a Sergio Villasenor free kick, only to see the goal disallowed after the referee called a foul against the Patriots. They were then reduced to nine men as David Salas was shown his second yellow for a foul in first-half stoppage time.
“Incredible from the guys and everything is starting to come together quite nicely,” said Aztex coach Paul Dalglish. “A lot of thing we worked on in training are starting to come into fruition, and we looked devastating in the first half.”
Austin would add to its lead five minutes into the second half after a turnover in the box by El Paso which caught Meza out of position. The play developed when Matt Boultt stole the ball, laid it off to Tyrpak, who scored his second goal of the game. Manneh scored Austin’s fifth goal after an excellent individual effort by the striker. He beat two Patriots defenders with a few moves outside the box and scored in the 57th minute.
El Paso ended the shutout when they scored their first goal in the 64th minute. A back pass from Ross Kelly failed to reach Aztex keeper Michael Lisch when Patriots forward Naoyas Aizawa used his speed to intercept the pass. He beat Lisch one-on-one and coolly slotted the ball into the net.
But Tyrpak rounded out the Aztex’s win, completing his hat trick in the 68th minute. Manneh shot the ball from deep on the left wing, and Meza couldn’t hold onto the shot. Tyrpak tapped in in the rebound, completing the victory.
The Aztex (3-1-0) stay on top of the Mid-South Division after their home opener in front of 2,507 fans who were eager to see the team return to Austin. The Patriots (1-2-1) head back to El Paso looking to turn their fortunes around against the Charlotte Eagles in Tuesday’s U.S. Open Cup second round match.
Austin plays their next game at home this Thursday at 7:30 p.m. against the Texas Dutch Lions.