FORT WORTH - In an evenly matched game of possession and rare opportunities to score, McPherson (1-0) found its first win of the season against Texas Wesleyan Men's Soccer (1-3) Saturday afternoon on a hot, humid day at Martin Field.

The excitement and drama of a potential tie did materialize late for the Rams and a tie would have only been fitting given how the game played out. Both teams had four corner kicks, McPherson had one more foul (9-8) and Texas Wesleyan ended up out-shooting the Bulldogs, but just by one, 9-8. Despite the efforts, the one point didn't end up coming to pass.

Three of the Rams nine shots came in the last eight minutes. Hector Perez got all three shots up, including a final look at a tie with 1:33 remaining. The most beautiful setup came a few minutes earlier, when James Kerr put a beautiful pass over the top of the defense looking for Perez, which missed wide. TXWES missed the slicing skills of Claudio Barraza down the stretch - last season's leading scorer and the early leader of 2019. He left the game effected by the heat with illness.

Defense for the Rams was strong all day. The Bulldogs didn't find a ton of space or good looks, with Rams goalkeeper Bastian Blumenburg only needed to save one shot all game. It was the one that wasn't saved that was costly. In the 16th minute, Carlos Reyna found the back of the net giving the many fans who took the long journey from Kansas something to cheer about. After all the fuss, the two teams settled in and didn't surrender much of anything that ended up being relevant to the end result.

It's the first time Texas Wesleyan has suffered a 1-0 defeat since August 27, 2017 at Wiley.

The Rams have a week off before a feisty LSU-Alexandria team comes to Martin Field for a 3 p.m. tilt Saturday September 7. Alexandria is 3-0 and hasn't surrendered a goal through the first 270 minutes of the early campaign.