Oct. 15, 2011

Final Stats

Laredo, Texas -Damir Turko and Diego Manzano-Cano led the Texas A&M International University men's soccer team past Eastern New Mexico 2-1 Friday night in the Greyhounds first road loss of the season. Making the first start of his TAMIU career, Turko picked up his first goal of the season while Cano tallied his team leading seventh.

"Since the beginning of the year, Coach Arias has told me to keep working hard and my opportunity would come," said Turko. "I finally got my first start of the season and I was able to help get a big win. Tonight was very important because we can't afford to lose if we want to qualify for the NCAA Tournament."

TAMIU dealt the first blow in the 29th minute when former United Longhorn Jovany Macias spotted Turko in the box.

"I was frustrated because I had a chance to score earlier and I missed. Thankfully just a couple of minutes later I saw Macias going up the right sideline. I saw an opening and he made a perfect pass."

The Dustdevils produced several additional scoring opportunities in the first half including a shot by Davian Perez (Sophomore, Houston, TX) that rattled the post, but TAMIU would settle for a 1-0 lead heading into the half.

The Greyhounds opened the second half with a quick equalizer, as Kal Herbert volleyed home a deflection off a header by Andy Wilkinson in the 50th minute. The game remained tied at two until the 72nd minute, when Cano tallied the game winner, sliding into a cross from Elkin Marin-Tovar (Junior, Bogota, Columbia).

TAMIU keeper Jesus Cisneros improves to 3-1-0 on the season, finishing with three saves on the night. Cisneros has a microscopic .53 goals-against average and a save percentage of .889 in his four starts.

The Dustdevils jump to 7-2-1 on the season and remain 3-0 in conference play. TAMIU returns to action Sunday, October 16th at home versus West Texas A&M at 1 p.m.