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Cavalier Connection Pays Off for Toros

By NICHOLAS MURRAY - nicholas.murray@uslsoccer.com, 05/14/17, 8:47AM EDT

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Wharton’s goal from Bird’s clever flick earned Toros’ victory in front of 7,196


Photo courtesy Rio Grande Valley FC

EDINBURG, Texas – Reunited with Rio Grande Valley FC last year after having played alongside each other at the University of Virginia, there was always an innate chemistry between Eric Bird and Todd Wharton.

On Saturday night, a perfect pass and finish by the duo gave the Toros their third home win of the season to delight the crowd of 7,196 fans at H-E-B Park with a 1-0 victory against the Swope Park Rangers.

The only goal of the night arrived in the 18th minute off a throw-in by Kai Greene from the right, level with the top of the penalty area. His throw found Bird just inside the edge of the penalty area, and Bird’s heel-flick pass found Wharton driving forward into the box. Wharton took one touch, and then fired a fierce shot into the top-right corner.

“We practice our throw-ins, different patterns that we want to work on, and he hit me right in the chest,” said Bird. “I knew that playing with Todd for a certain number of years, I knew that he would make a run into the box. I just tried to put it in a good area, and there he was. Todd did the rest. It was a fantastic finish.”

The goal was Wharton’s first this season as the midfielder made his second start of the season. Playing in a more advanced role than normal with Jorginho James playing deeper, Wharton linked up play well throughout the game, completing 25-of-30 passes on the night in addition to his finish.

“Todd brings a good work-rate, he’s competitive, he has good technique and I think he’s a good passer,” said Toros Head Coach Junior Gonzalez. “He does a good job distributing the ball. I was really happy with Jorginho James tonight. He made his first start and put in close to 70 minutes. I thought he did an excellent job defensively of just holding it down in the midfield as well.”

As part of the Cavaliers’ program, Wharton and Bird helped Virginia claim the NCAA College Cup together in 2014. Now in their second season together with the Toros, they’re hoping to bring similar success to Rio Grande Valley.

“All the time we’ve been here, we’ve talked about how if we get up top playing together, we can make things happen just because we know each other and we know how we play and we have fun doing it,” said Wharton. “We want to set each other up, it’s not like he wants to score or I want to score. We want to help each other score, and it’s a lot of fun because I’ve grown up with him. For him to get the assist on my first goal, it’s really cool.”

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