An opening goal was not enough as the Fort Worth Vaqueros lost, 3-1, to the Tulsa Athletics in the NPSL Regional Semifinals on Tuesday night. The loss ends an impressive playoff run and what will be seen as the team's best season to date which saw the Nick Stavrou coached club win their first conference championship.

The Vaqueros came into the game as the Lone Star Conference Champions, but as the lower seed had to travel to Oklahoma to play a team that has yet to lose a game in this 2019 season. It was also the team's third game in six days, with games in Denton, Midland and then Oklahoma.

Still, the Vaqueros did not make it easy for the undefeated hosts as Fort Worth scored first. In the 14th minute, Anthony Powell got behind the Tulsa defense on a well-timed run, took the ball to the endline and then found VcMor Eligwe in front of the Athletics' goal and the forward finished the chance from close range.

Unfortunately for the Vaqueros, Fort Worth was not able to hold the lead until halftime, giving up a goal in the 33rd minute to Joe Garcia. Tulsa had the ball on their right wing and Nathan Ndomba was able to play a penetrating ball to Garcia near the top of Fort Worth's penalty area. The Dallas native cut the ball back to create space and then slotted the ball in the lower right corner for the tying goal.

The Vaqueros were able to hold on for much of the second half, but the Athletics scored in the 83rd minute to break the deadlock. Athletics goalkeeper Bryson Reed collected the ball in his penalty area, threw the ball forward to Garcia near midfield, and Garcia played Aaron Ugbah in behind the right side of the Vaqueros' defense. The Athletics forward then turned the ball back across the goalmouth, beat two recovering defenders and shot it into the upper left corner of Fort Worth's net for the match winner.

In stoppage time, as the Vaqueros were pushing forward to find the equalizer, Fort Worth gave up a third goal. Junior Kazeem and Vinny Oliveira worked a quick series of passes to free Kazeem in behind the Vaqueros' defense and Kazeem finished the one-on-one with the keeper to seal the victory.

Even with the loss, it was a milestone season for the Vaqueros. Fort Worth had made the playoffs for the first time in 2017 and won their first playoff game in 2018, so this year's two playoff victories and conference championship puts 2019 as their banner year.

Also in 2019, the Denton Diablos joined the NPSL and the Lone Star Conference, and had an impressive inaugural season as they came in second in the conference.

That achievement by Denton was notable as the Diablos finished ahead of the Vaqueros by three points despite Fort Worth winning the regular season series with Denton and the accompanying Chisolm Trail Clasico, their first rivalry trophy triumph. The two teams then played an epic playoff match on July 11 with the game ending at a goal apiece in regulation, no goals in extra time, and then being decided in the eighth round of kicks from the mark that Fort Worth won, 5-4.

The one outstanding question that the Vaqueros might have is their rivalry series with Dallas City FC and the Trinity River Cup. The teams split the season series with Fort Worth winning 2-0 on June 8 and Dallas City winning 3-1 on July 8. That leaves the series tied on points and goals. At the time of the second game, the teams decided to wait to see if they might meet in the playoffs, but unfortunately Dallas City was unable to beat Midland-Odessa in their playoff game so that match-up did not materialize.