HIGHLIGHTS:
TACOMA – What a difference six days makes. San Antonio FC suffered a 1-5 loss to Tacoma Defiance (5-15-5) at Cheney Stadium on Friday night, equalling their largest defeat in club history.
The loss is the first for SAFC since a 2-3 home loss to Sacramento Republic on August 3. Just a week ago, San Antonio got their largest win in club history, a 5-0 win over New Mexico United.
“Tonight was a match where we didn’t win enough of our individual battles, and when that happens, it doesn’t matter if you’re playing at home or away,” SAFC Head Coach Darren Powell said. “Now we have to go back to the drawing board to prepare for our next game because at this point the response is the most important thing.”
Tacoma got the scoring started with two goals early. Midfielder Shandon Hopeau found Justin Dhillon inside the box for an open shot to the left corner in the 17th minute. Danny Robles got loose on a breakaway and beat SAFC Matt Cardone for a 2-0 lead in the 29th minute.
SAFC’s string of bad luck continued in the second half when they were called for a penalty just inside the box. Tacoma midfielder Alfonso Ocampo-Chavez stepped up and converted the shot, putting the home side up three goals in the 75th minute. Ethan Dobbelaere would add another goal five minutes later to make it 4-0.
San Antonio would get one back in the 88th minute when defender Josh Yaro scored on the feed from Jack Barmby but Tacoma finalized the scoring with Dhillon’s second of the night to make it 1-5.
“This was a bad result and we need to learn and move past it,” SAFC midfielder Pecka said. “We lost for ourselves once again, we weren’t focused and we let them score early, then we tried to press and they scored again. None of the players are happy with our performance because we came out here with the intent to earn three points.”
UP NEXT:
San Antonio FC is now 9-10-7 (34 points) on the season and will return to the pitch next Saturday night against the league-best Phoenix Rising FC (18-2-5) at 9:30 pm Central Time.
