SAN ANTONIO (Fwrd Axis) — After a week off, San Antonio FC returned to action on Saturday at a steamy Toyota Field as they earned a 5-0 victory over Atlanta United 2 to stay atop the USL Championship standings.
With the win, San Antonio extends their winning streak to three matches and are winners of four of their last five.
“I thought we dominated from start to finish,” SAFC Head Coach Alen Marcina said. “Our pressing action is fantastic, it made it incredibly difficult for them to build and push numbers forward. You’ve got to connect a couple passes to then take advantage of pushing numbers forward, but we didn’t allow them to do that.”
San Antonio looked to have a goal early when Santiago Patino put a shot into the back of the net six minutes in but it was waved off for being offside. SAFC took a two-goal lead with two goals in a span of two minutes. First, Connor Maloney stole the ball and fed Samuel Adeniran, who put the ball home in the 13th minute and Patino made his next attempt count with a goal two minutes later.
Patino was dragged down in the box and a penalty was called. He stepped up to convert the penalty, giving him two goals on the evening and a 3-0 lead for San Antonio.
For me, the injury at the beginning of the season threw me off a little bit,” Patino said. “But you know it’s in the past and now I am working hard to do what I love to do – to score goals, attack, and help the team and little by little.”
SAFC continued their onslaught in the second half when Adeniran put home his second of the evening off the cross from Mohammed Abu in the 52nd minute, putting San Antonio up 4-0. SAFC would add one more goal from Justin Dhillon, who made up for a missed penalty kick attempt earlier to seal the 5-0 win for San Antonio.
The win keeps San Antonio ahead of Louisville City to remain atop the USL Championship standings and four points ahead of Colorado Springs Switchbacks in the Western Conference. After losing on the road in the Western Conference Final a season ago, SAFC knows how important it is to remain at the top.
“We want to have home field advantage all the way into the championship game,” Adeniran said. “We control our own destiny.”
UP NEXT:
San Antonio FC is now 14-3-1 (43 points) on the season and will return to the pitch next Saturday when they face the El Paso Locomotive FC (9-7-6) at 8 PM on the road for a chance to win the Copa Tejas Cup.
