Texas Native Kris Tyrpak Has Had Fast Start With The Scorpions

The month of October has brought cooler temperatures to San Antonio, but new Scorpions forward Kris Tyrpak has started off his NASL career red hot. In his debut game for his new club on Oct. 3 against the Fort Lauderdale Strikers, Tyrpak hit a half volley from well outside the box that went on to be voted by fans as the NASL Play of the Week.

“I didn’t expect to get one so quick,” Tyrpak said of his debut goal. “It can happen at anytime in any game. I thought I had one 30 seconds into the game that they called back. I was able to fight through it and got one in the second half.”

Tyrpak followed up that smashing debut by scoring again in his second match in red and black to help lead San Antonio to a 2-1 win on the road over Indy Eleven. Tyrpak became only the second Scorpions player to score in each of his first two matches for the club (striker Omar Cummings scored in the first two matches of the 2015 Spring Season).

“It’s awesome, the team is really close. The [Toyota Field] pitch is great, practice has been super intense,” Tyrpak said. “The players are very accepting. I came in and they let me in right away, didn’t allow me to be an outsider. They expected me to be involved from the get go, so it was good.”

The 23-year-old is also the 3rd youngest player to have scored a goal for the Scorpions. Eriq Zavaleta was 20 when he scored in June 2013 while on loan from the Seattle Sounders and Josué Soto was a couple of months younger than Tyrpak is now when he scored in 2012 while on loan from the Houston Dynamo. Tyrpak also joins Soto as the only native Texans to have scored for the Alamo City boys.

“You want more players like Kris on your squad,” Scorpions head coach Alen Marcina said. “He matches talent with discipline and he’s very coachable. You give him instruction and he goes out and implements it.”

With four games remaining in the 2015 season and the Scorpions still in the hunt for a postseason spot, Tyrpak will look to get going and help San Antonio finish the year on a winning streak. If things fall the Scorpions’ way, the postseason could be on the horizon..

“I want to try to build off my [first couple of games] and maybe shoot in a couple more goals,” Tyrpak said. “I want to help get the team some wins to end the season on a high note.”