Fernando Ocete

Men's Soccer Scorpions Blank Bacone, 6-0
Posted September 7, 2007
MUSKOGEE, Okla. -- The UTB/TSC men's soccer team got into the victory column in a big way, shutting down Bacone University, 6-0, in the Red River Athletic Conference opener for both teams Friday, September 7.

The Scorpions are now 1-1-1 overall while Bacone dropped to 0-3. UTB/TSC concludes its road trip with a 10 a.m. game Saturday, September 8 in Muskogee against Rogers State University.

After a 1-1 tie in double overtime against Oklahoma Baptist three days earlier, Scorpion head coach Dan Balaguero was relieved about getting the first victory in Scorpion men's soccer history.

"It's nice to finally to get on win column, we knew before the trip that this game was the most important one because it was a conference game," Balaguero said. "Anytime you win a conference game on the road, it's big."

Five different Scorpion players scored the goals. Marco Malovic scored in the 16th minute, Brian Hardie scored in the 22nd minute, Fernando Ocete scored in the 27th minute and 73rd minute, Enrique Rivera scored in the 47th minute, and Mark McCormick scored in the 82nd minute.

Getting the assists for the Scorpions, who had 17 shots on goal, were Ricki Rodriguez and Antonio Vernaschi with two each, and Hardie and Stuart Rodgers with one each.

The Scorpions led at halftime, 3-0. Goalkeeper Bojan Maric played all 90 minutes, and had three saves. Balaguero credited McCormick and Mike Hudson for putting pressure defensively and preserve the shutout.