BLINN MEN’S SOCCER DEFEATS TEXAS WESLEYAN JV 4-1
(Story by Joe Alberico, Blinn College Sports Information)
The Blinn College men’s soccer team powered past Texas Wesleyan University JV, 4-1, in non-region play Sunday in Fort Worth, Texas.
The victory improved the Buccaneers to 5-2-2 overall. Blinn is 4-0-2 in its previous six matches.
“It was important to get valuable minutes into the legs of several players this evening, which is always a positive,” Blinn head coach Michael McBride said. “Securing an away win is tremendously pleasing, and while it took us some time to find our rhythm, the squad ultimately did enough to get us across the line.”
Blinn broke through in the 37th minute when freshman forward Arthur Santos scored off an assist from freshman forward Giovanni Perez, giving the Bucs a 1-0 lead at halftime.
The Buccaneers doubled their advantage in the 57th minute when freshman midfielder Victor Garcia found the back of the net off assists from freshman forward Vukasin Ivanovic and freshman midfielder Robbie Paredes.
Texas Wesleyan answered one minute later, but Blinn quickly restored its two-goal cushion.
Ivanovic scored in the 59th minute off a free kick from freshman midfielder Diego Mendoza, pushing the lead to 3-1. The goal was Ivanovic’s ninth of the season, tying him for sixth on Blinn’s all-time single-season goals list.
Sophomore defender Benji Minkette capped the scoring in the 89th minute, scoring his first career goal off a corner kick from Santos. Minkette is in his second season at Blinn.
The Bucs controlled play throughout the match, outshooting Texas Wesleyan 28-7 and holding a 12-6 advantage in shots on goal. Blinn also earned 15 corner kicks to the Rams’ none.
Sophomore goalkeeper Samir Bristol played the first 70 minutes and did not make a save while earning the victory, improving to 4-1-1 this season. Freshman goalkeeper Riccardo Strohhecker played the final 20 minutes and made five saves while keeping Texas Wesleyan off the scoreboard.
Paredes’ assist marked his fifth of the season, making him the 43rd player since the program’s inaugural 2018 season to record at least five assists in a season. His five assists are tied for 28th on Blinn’s all-time single-season list with former Bucs All-American Sam Sebagabo, current sophomore forward Kayde Gielinck, and 12 others.
Ivanovic’s goal and assist gave him 20 points this season, moving him into a tie with former Buc Joe Loughnane for 14th on Blinn’s all-time single-season points list.
The Bucs’ 15 corner kicks increased their season total to 79, the sixth-highest single-season total in program history through nine matches.
Blinn is allowing just 1.22 goals per match, the program’s second-lowest total through nine matches, trailing only the 2025 Bucs, who allowed 1.04 goals through their first nine matches.
Blinn improved to 14-0-2 all-time against non-NJCAA opponents. Texas Wesleyan is an NAIA program.
Blinn hosts Region 14 foe Coastal Bend College at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 22, at Rankin Field in Brenham, Texas.
“Coastal Bend on Tuesday is a really tough project,” McBride added. “We will need to perform much better than we did this evening to get a result against them.”