SALT LAKE CITY — San Antonio FC continued their four-game road trip in Salt Lake City on Saturday night and earned a 1-0 victory over Real Monarchs SLC at Zions Bank Stadium.
The victory saw SAFC rebound from a midweek loss to the Austin Bold. San Antonio has won three of its last five matches and owns a record of 4-1-1 in their last six matches.
“I’m incredibly proud of the guys,” SAFC Head Coach Alen Marcina said. “They demonstrated their resilience. We created a number of opportunities, and they maintained their confidence and kept pushing to get a goal. We knew at some point it was just a matter of time and Marcus [Epps] delivered a spectacular goal for the team.”
Nathan, Marcus Epps, and Jose Gallegos all created several chances for the visiting side in the first half. Nathan had two point-blank chances but the Monarchs keeper stood tall and kept the ball out of the net, making it a scoreless game into the second half.
The second half saw San Antonio creating more chances and putting shots to the Real Monarchs net, testing the keeper early and often. SAFC finally broke through in the 80th minute when Epps received a pass from PC and put home the ball from just outside the 18-yard box.
The victory keeps SAFC in third place in a tight Mountain Division, with just two points separating second through fourth place.
“Guys are happy, but this game is behind us now,” SAFC Defender Mitchell Taintor said. “It’s now about preparing for New York and getting three points and maximizing where we are in the table. We take it game by game because every game is like a playoff game now and we need maximum points.”
UP NEXT:
San Antonio FC is now 9-6-7 (34 points) on the season and will return to the pitch on Wednesday night to face the New York Red Bulls II (4-14-4) at 6 p.m.
