After months of hype and waiting, San Antonio’s newest soccer team took to the pitch for their first ever match. And it was worth the wait.
Jason Johnson scored two goals in the opening ten minutes as San Antonio FC earned a 3-0 win over Seattle Sounders FC 2 at Starfire Stadium on Sunday night.
SAFC wasted little time in scoring their first goal in team history, taking just three minutes. Johnson raced to the left penalty area and placed a low shot into the right corner of the net to make it 1-0 early. Seven minutes later, San Antonio took advantage of a bad bounce and poor Seattle defense to extend their lead. Johnson broke loose and beat the Sounders goalkeeper one-on-one to make it 2-0.
Seattle (0-3-0, 0 points) tried to answer back when Zach Mathers sent a shot towards the SAFC goal, but San Antonio goalkeeper made the save in the 21st minute. SAFC would carry their two-goal lead into the second half.
“Two goals early on was a really good thing for the team knowing that we are a good defensive squad,” said Johnson. “It was huge especially away from home and the first game in franchise history. I think that is a brilliant way to start off a season.”
Neither team had many scoring chances in the second half. Seattle came out strong and controlled poccession for the first five minutes when Andy Craven sent a shot towards the San Antonio net, but the shot went wide.
San Antonio’s Carlos Alvarez sent a pass towards Cochrane, but his shot went wide in the 65th minute. The Sounders had a chance late with Craven’s second attempt of the night, but his shot went high and out of play.
SAFC added a third goal late in the match when Fejiro Okiomah put home a rebound off a missed Rafael Castillo low shot with 11 minutes remaining to seal the 3-0 win for San Antonio FC’s debut.
“We came out to a very fast start and got a couple of goals and had to hold on to the lead the rest of the match,” said San Antonio Head Coach Darren Powell. “To get three points on the road in our opening game, the team is very pleased.”
San Antonio FC is now 1-0-0 (3 points) on the season and will return to the pitch on Saturday night when they welcome the Swope Park Rangers to Toyota Field at 7:30 p.m. for their franchise home opener.
