HIGHLIGHTS:
SACRAMENTO – Despite a stellar performance from Matt Cardone in net, San Antonio FC would fall 1-2 to Sacramento Republic FC (5-5-2) at Papa Murphys Park on Saturday night.
The loss was the second straight for SAFC, who are 0-3-2 in their last five games and 0-6-0 on the road this season.
“It was a hard-fought contest that came down to the last 15 minutes tonight,” SAFC Head Coach Darren Powell said. “Our team worked extremely hard to put ourselves in a good position and try to keep the clean sheet. We pulled one back but it was too little, too late, but we’re proud of the players for their commitment and discipline to try and do the right thing.”
The first half saw no goals from either side but it was 45 minutes that was dominated by the home side. Sacramento was on the attack early and often, outshooting San Antonio 11-2.
Sacramento opened the scoring in the 78th minute thanks to an SAFC blunder when the ball went off San Antonio defender Josh Yaro and into the net. The hosts added to their lead just five minutes later when Sam Werner curled the ball into the top right corner of the net, putting Republic FC up two goals.
SAFC responded in stoppage time on midfielder Michael Lahoud’s first goal of the season but the whistle would blow before San Antonio could find the equalizer.
Cardone recorded six saves on the night on 20 Sacramento shot attempts.
San Antonio remains winless on the road and will play three of their next four away from Toyota Field. SAFC has not won since April 26 against Tacoma and the next four matches are against teams ahead of them in the Western Conference table.
“We need to regroup and go again,” Cardone said. “We have a lot of games left and we’re not out of anything by any means. We had some good moments tonight and played hard, and we have to continue that because we have time to turn things around.”
UP NEXT:
San Antonio FC is now 3-7-3 (12 points) on the season and will return to the pitch next Saturday when they welcome Reno 1868 FC (5-2-5) at Toyota Field with kickoff scheduled for 7:30 pm Central Time.
