SAN ANTONIO (Fwrd Axis) — San Antonio FC made club history on Saturday night with a 2-0 victory over Las Vegas Lights FC (9-9-6) in front of 5,521 fans at Toyota Field, setting a new club record for wins in a single season.
The victory is the third in the last five games for San Antonio, who moved seven points ahead of San Diego Loyal SC with the Loyal’s loss on Saturday night and four points ahead of Louisville City FC for the top overall spot in the USL Championship.
“I think they did fantastic,” SAFC Head Coach Alen Marcina said. “They earned and deserved the three points tonight, from start to finish. Did extremely well. The third game in eight days, with the amount of injuries we have … we never made excuses, it’s just our reality. And the way we performed, I’m super proud of the collective.”
For much of the first half, San Antonio and Las Vegas played much of their action in the midfield. Santiago Patino had a chance that went just inches away from the net in the second minute but SAFC finally struck in the 26th minute when Shannon Gomez fed Nicky Hernandez, who sent in a cross towards the net that went in goal, putting the home side up 1-0.
After the match, Hernandez said that was all planned.
“This morning, I received a text from Mitch Taintor,” he said. “He texted me, he sent me a video. He’s like, I think it was the Arsenal game. Arsenal against Leicester. Someone shot-crossed it. He’s like ‘dude, you should do this.’ And I’m like ‘bro, I’m going to score tonight and do that.’”
SAFC added to their lead just before halftime when Hernandez sent in a free kick that found Jasser Khimri but it was later ruled an own goal as San Antonio FC took the 2-0 lead into the locker room.
The second half was mostly quiet for both sides with a few saves for San Antonio goalkeeper Jordan Farr as he earned his 10th clean sheet of the season, now tied for the second-most in the league.
“It helps to have a system that’s so, it’s all principle based. Every person that is signed for SAFC understands the principles that Alen tells us,” Farr said of the defensive performance. “So it’s really just about plugging guys in and then finding form and really building off that form.”
UP NEXT:
San Antonio FC is now 18-4-2 (56 points) on the season and will return to the pitch next Saturday to welcome rivals Rio Grande Valley FC Toros (7-11-5) to Toyota Field at 8 p.m.
