DEKALB, Ill. -- A pair of second half goals lifted The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley to a 2-0 victory over the Northern Illinois University men's soccer team on Sunday afternoon in the NIU adidas Invitational. Guillermo Martinez and Ilias Kosmidis each tallied for the Vaqueros, who finish as the tournament's lone unbeaten team.

"I think the performance was okay for 70 minutes," said NIU head coach Ryan Swan. "But, again, we have been punished on a set piece. I'll have to watch the video to see what happened, but we let ourselves down there and we mentally shutoff in a couple of areas and it cost us a game against a good team."

NIU (2-3) started the quicker of the two teams as junior Kevin Rodriguez (Pasadena, Texas/Deer Park) tested UTRGV goalkeeper Andy Rios in the third minute. 

In the 18th minute, sophomore Christian Molina (Katy, Texas/Mayde Creek) combined with sophomore Jan Maertins (Rheinfelden, Germany/Georg-Buechner Gym) who had an excellent look at goal but Rios made a good save to keep the game deadlocked. 

The first good chance of the match for UTRGV (2-1-1) came in the 22nd minute as a header from Isidro Martinez hit the crossbar and went out of play. 

Four minutes later the Huskies were back on the attack as Rodriguez found himself with space outside the box and unleashed a shot that went just wide of the UTRGV goal. 

The last chance of the first half came in the 42nd minute on a counterattack as freshman Alex Welch (Carmarthen, Wales/ King's College Madrid) played the ball to junior Noah Brodie (Scottsdale, Ariz./Carbondale Community) who forced another good save from the UTRGV goalkeeper as the game went into halftime tied, 0-0. 

The second half started slowly but sprung to life in the 57th minute as Rodriguez dribbled near the end line and found a little bit of space but was unable to find the next from a tight angle. Moments later, UTRGV had a chance to open the scoring as the ball squirmed away from NIU senior goalkeeper Drew Donnally (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield North) in his box before he quickly pounced on it to avert the danger. 

In the 64th minute, Molina tried his luck from outside the box, but his dipping shot stayed just high as it landed on top of the net.   

The Vaqueros broke the deadlock in the 70th minute as Guillermo Martinez was the first to pounce on a loose ball in the box. Isidro Martinez took a corner and the initial header wasn't won cleanly, but Guillermo Martinez was the first to the second ball, stabbing it past Donnally to give UTRGV a 1-0 lead. 

Just five minutes later UTRGV doubled it advantage as Sergio Loredo crossed a ball from the left and Kosmidis was the first to react to it, redirecting it into the back of the net for a 2-0 UTRGV advantage. 

The Huskies pushed in the final 15 minutes but were unable to get a shot on target as UTRGV claimed the victory to finish the weekend 2-0. 

Rodriguez and sophomore Logan Hatter (Avon, Ind./Avon) were named to the NIU adidas Invitational All-Tournament Team. 

Donnally recorded six saves between the sticks for the Huskies; Rios made four saves for the Vaqueros.
NIU will return to action next week as it travels to Orem, Utah for a pair of matches, beginning Friday afternoon when the Huskies take on Omaha. Kickoff is scheduled for 5 p.m. 


NIU adidas Invitational All-Tournament Team
Michael Faber, UTRGV
Guillermo Martinez, UTRGV
Andres Mathiesen, UTRGV
Andy Rios, UTRGV
Elliot Collier, Loyola
Kyle Thomson, Loyola
Aidan Megally, Loyola
Logan Hatter, NIU
Kevin Rodriguez, NIU
Ian McCauley, Stetson
Deniz Dogan, Stetson