The University of the Incarnate Word men's soccer team was on the road on Sunday, starting the 2011 season with a neutral-site matchup against No. 9-ranked Colorado School of Mines in Canyon, Texas.
The Cardinals went into the contest ranked No. 25 in the nation by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America and, ended up losing by a score of 2-1 in a contest that new head coach Vincent Martinez said was, in general, dominated by Incarnate Word.
"First, I have to take my hat off to CSOM for coming back from a goal down to win this game,” Martinez said. “They showed great heart and character. However, I felt we played well enough to get a result. Hitting the post twice and missing some quality chances proved to be the deciding factor. Overall, I'm happy with the way we played.”
UIW (0-1) struck first blood in the first half, with senior Callum Riley, the reigning Lone Star Conference Offensive Player of the Year, scoring on a free kick at 18:16 to put the Cardinals up 1-0 on the Ore Diggers.
However, just a handful of second later, School of Mines (2-0) answered with its own free-kick goal and the score was back to being knotted at 1-1.
The teams took the tie score into halftime, but in the 69th minute, CSOM scored the go-ahead goal for the 2-1 lead.
Incarnate Word pressed the action, resulting in nine corner kick opportunities to the Ore Diggers' solo attempt, but both schools were credits with five shots in the contest.
The Cardinals will play again on Wednesday, facing off against St. Edward's University at the Hilltoppers' home field. UIW is going to play its first home game on Friday against Lindenwood University as the second part of a UIW Soccer Doubleheader.
Kickoff is scheduled for 8:30 p.m.
