Junior captain midfielder Paul McCloud has not had the statistical season he had last year. He missed the fall season studying abroad in Australia and has dealt with shifts to his line. McCloud put all those frustrations and distractions aside last Saturday afternoon and took over the end of the Longhorns’ game against the San Diego State Aztecs.

Paul McCloud's strong performance helped boost the Longhorns past the Aztecs.

In roughly three minutes, McCloud scored the tying, winning, and insurance goals to pull UT back into the winning column after a draining loss to rival Texas A&M the night before. For the second straight game the Horns dug themselves an early hole, failing to finish point blank shots and playing soft defense, allowing the Aztecs to race out to a 5-1 advantage in the second quarter. Texas brought it back within two by halftime and then carried the momentum all the way through the second stanza. The Longhorn defense employed rigid shutoff defensive packages, allowing only one goal in each of the final two periods. Meanwhile, the offensive unit and McCloud in particular, had a huge fourth quarter where the score was tied at seven and the lead was snatched over to their side of the scoreboard.

Evans Swann continued his consistent play with three goals and two assists, and McCloud had one earlier goal to add to his late hat trick. Towers Wilen started and ended the game in goal and had several integral saves, while backup Philip West filled in the second quarter and had four saves of his own.

The win against SDSU snapped a three game losing streak for the Horns against WCLL teams at home and brought Texas’ overall record to 8-4 going into the final week of the regular season.

Click Here for Photos (by Gemma Williams)

by Aaron Motsinger