SAN ANTONIO (Fwrd Axis) — San Antonio FC picked up a point as they played to a 1-1 draw with New Mexico United at Toyota Field on Saturday night to continue their homestand.
With the result, SAFC kept their lead in the USL Western Conference at nine points but Louisville FC won their match, meaning San Antonio’s overall lead for the league’s top spot was reduced to just a single point with a month left in the regular season.
“Disappointed, we didn’t get three points. The pressing actions were fantastic,” San Antonio FC Head Coach Alen Marcina said. “We expected them to sit back, which they did. They were playing for a draw or to catch us on a set piece, or potentially in transition. We scored a nice goal to go up. We made one error on their goal, we expected to be man to man in the box. So, we learn from that, take the point, and remain in first place.”
After a non-eventful first half, San Antonio opened the scoring in the 54th minute when Ignacio Bailone put home his second goal in many games off the feed from Cristian Parano to put SAFC up a goal. United responded 17 minutes later when Chris Wehan found the end of a pass and beat SAFC goalkeeper Jordan Farr to level the match 1-1 in the 67th minute.
Despite having several chances to take the lead, United would be stopped by Farr as both teams ended the match in a tie.
“You get a lot of chances in games sometimes but you can’t expect to put them all away and win nine nothing,” SAFC Defender Mitch Taintor said. “That’s just not the reality of it. Obviously, we’d like to put more of them away, but it just happens like that sometimes.”
San Antonio will have two games next week, looking to respond to their loss and keep their lead in the race for the top spot in the Western Conference and league overall.
“I think the beautiful thing is that we don’t have to wait, you know, a week for another game,” SAFC defender Connor Maloney said. “Which is great. Guys are buzzing right now to get back on the field. So it’s another opportunity to get those three points, and hopefully, solidify first place in the West.”
UP NEXT:
San Antonio FC is now 20-5-4 (64 points) on the season and will return to the pitch on Tuesday when they face Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC (16-11-3) at 7:30 p.m. at Toyota Field.
