San Antonio FC will face the seventh seeded Tulsa Roughnecks FC in the opening round of the USL Cup Playoffs this Saturday night. The regular season may have seen SAFC sweep all games in league play, but how much can you take away from that?
Below I’ll break down the two season meetings and the factors that went into each game.
Match #1: June 17, 2017 – Roughnecks at SAFC (W, 3-1)
The first match between the two clubs saw San Antonio break a scoreless drought as they scored a goal for the first time in two weeks since their 1-0 win over Swope Park Rangers on May 26. SAFC went on to win 3-1, getting goals from Kris Tyrpak and Devin Vega. SAFC’s seven-game shutout streak was snapped with Tulsa’s lone goal in this game.
Match #2: September 30, 2017 – SAFC at Roughnecks (W, 2-0)
In the final match of the season, SAFC came in knowing they’d be in the postseason. San Antonio wanting to host, they knew they needed three points. Midseason signing Mark O’Ojong and Billy Forbes each tallied the goals for SAFC in the win. Diego Restrepo recorded a clean sheet and in two matches against Tulsa has given up just one goal in 185 minutes of play.
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While SAFC won both meetings, they did fall 4-3 in penalty kicks to Tulsa in the U.S. Open Cup match, marking their only loss against the Roughnecks.
The two league matches proved a few things:
- Diego Restrepo is solid against Tulsa.
- Billy Forbes can score against the Roughnecks defense
- Kris Tyrpak can prove majorly important.
All good signs heading into Saturday’s match.
