HIGHLIGHTS:
SAN ANTONIO – San Antonio FC closed out the 2018 regular season with a 1-1 draw against the Rio Grande Valley FC Toros at Toyota Field on Saturday night.
SAFC will now have to rely on help from LA Galaxy II in their match against Swope Park in order to make the playoffs. Anything other than an LA win will see San Antonio miss out on the playoffs.
“We’re still in a playoff position and it’s something we want to dearly hold on to,” SAFC Head Coach Darren Powell said. “Now we have to hope the (Swope Park Rangers) result goes our way tomorrow.”
San Antonio opened the scoring in the 24th minute when Lance Laing sent in a cross to Ever Guzman, who headed the ball past goalkeeper Michael Nelson to put the home side up a goal going into the second half.
RGV found the equalizer just fives minutes into the second half when Carlos Small snuck a shot low and beat SAFC goalkeeper Matt Cardone to knot the score at 1-1. Despite several chances, San Antonio could not find the go-ahead goal.
Here is what went good and bad for SAFC as well as two standout players: Ever Guzman and Matt Cardone.
The Good:
- Ever Guzman’s goal saw him make club history. More on that in a moment.
- Matt Cardone showed exactly why San Antonio had the top two goalkeepers in the league.
- Rafa Castillo is a legend.
The Bad:
- San Antonio failed to get the win and will now have their playoff hopes hanging in the balance.
- A no-call on what looked to be a penalty on RGV sent Toyota Field into a chorus of boos. If SAFC misses the playoffs, fans will likely not forget that play.
Two Standout Players
Ever Guzman
Ever Guzman headed home the lone goal of the night for San Antonio, continuing to be a solid offensive spark for SAFC the last few weeks of the season.
The goal was Guzman’s 11th of the season and 15th since joining the club late last season. The marker also saw Guzman become the all-time leading scorer in club history.
Matt Cardone:
The goalkeeper came up big for San Antonio since taking over for the injured Diego Restrepo. But if SAFC makes the playoffs, they will have Matty to thank.
Cardone made six saves on the night, tying his season-high for the season. At one point, he made a fingertip save on a shot that would have very likely ended any hopes for San Antonio’s playoff chances.
“Matt has been great for us, he was great tonight,” SAFC defender Cyprian Hedrick said. “We had great two goalkeepers but Matt has been great for us in net since Diego got injured.”
UP NEXT:
SAFC will now have to rely on help from LA Galaxy II in their match against Swope Park in order to make the playoffs. The match will kick off at 2 p.m. CT.
