Men’s soccer begins season at home against Texas Wesleyan

The UHV men's soccer team begins its quest for a fifth Red River Athletic Conference title on Thursday.

The Jaguars host Texas Wesleyan at 3:30 p.m. at The Cage to open the 2023 season.

It will be the sixth meeting all-time, and fourth in the last five seasons, between UHV (10-3-5 in 2022) and the Rams. The Jaguars hold a 3-2 series edge and beat Texas Wesleyan 2-0 in 2021 when the teams last played in Victoria.

"Our team is excited for our first match," said head coach Adrian Rigby. "We saw good things in the preseason between our returners and new guys. Now they get an opportunity to test that against a good Texas Wesleyan team. This will be a good test right away to help us prepare for our conference schedule."

UHV returns an experienced defense, anchored by reigning RRAC Newcomer of the Year Tyler Kaeppeli and All-RRAC second team selection Philipp Kueck along with junior Adam Thompson and graduate senior Matthew Albury.

Kaeppeli's seven shutouts last year ranked fifth all-time in the UHV single-season records.

"That experience is good," Rigby said. "We've also got some dynamic new faces that stepped up in the preseason. They can come in and give us good chances to be successful all around."

The Jaguars have made The Cage one of the tougher places for visiting teams to play. They closed the 2022 season on an eight-match unbeaten run (5-0-3) in Victoria.

Over the last four years, UHV is 24-2-3 at home.

"We take pride in our home field," Rigby said. "We want to show that pride by getting results each time we step onto our field."

Texas Wesleyan enters Thursday with an 0-2 record after a 7-3 loss to Jarvis Christian last week.