FC Tucson's unbeaten streak ends at seven with shutout loss

North Texas SC snapped FC Tucson’s seven-match unbeaten streak and congested the USL League One table even more.

NTSC spoiled FC Tucson's (9-9-6) Southern Arizona Heritage Night with a 2-0 win Saturday night.

“Extremely disappointed for the guys,” said FC Tucson interim coach Jon Pearlman. “We’ve talked about it a lot, it’s always going to come down to critical moments, decisions and plays and chances not taken and chances taken and we’re on the wrong side of pretty much all of them tonight and that’s always difficult.

"I’m pleased with how we moved the ball 18 to 18, there’s a lot of good moments, but the final third moments, the shots, just weren’t hitting the frame and the crosses weren’t landing where they needed to.”

North Texas' Dominick Hernandez trips up FC Tucson's Joao Delgado from behind and picks up a yellow card in the first half Saturday night.
Kelly Presnell, Arizona Daily Star

FC Tucson outshot NTSC 12-11 but the visitors had eight shots on goal compared to the host’s two.

North Texas SC (9-7-9) moves up to fifth place from sixth, the last playoff spot. The Men in Black dropped from third in the table to a tie for fifth with North Texas SC, but they’re only two points out of third.

FC Tucson has four of its last six matches at home.

The Men in Black, who normally wear all black at home, debuted their El Jefe culture kit, a sky blue and orange sunset looking jersey with mostly black shorts.

North Texas SC forward Kalil ElMedkhar scored in the 33rd minute. Then midfielder Imanol Almaguer scored the second in the 77th.

FC Tucson's Charlie Dennis, left, and goalkeeper Wallis Lapsley react after the team gave up the first goal of the night to North Texas SC in the 2-0 loss.
Kelly Presnell, Arizona Daily Star

FC Dallas of the MLS owns North Texas SC.

“There’s a lot of young players and a lot of young talent on that team,” Pearlman said. “There’s players on their team like Almaguer, who’s played games for the first team and they’ve just got a ton of talent on the field, but we do as well.”

The Men in Black finished the regular-season series winless against North Texas SC. They played to two draws in Arlington, Texas, and NTSC won 2-0 both times in Tucson.

FC Tucson picked up three cards in the feisty match and North Texas SC had four in front of the crowd of 1,076. In the 86th minute FC Tucson defender Maximiliano Schenfeld was sent off, the only red card of the match.

FC Tucson’s next match is Oct. 13 when they host last-place North Carolina FC (5-14-4) at 7 p.m.