CARSON, CA — San Antonio FC hit the road for the first time in the 2022 season and earned a 2-1 victory over LA Galaxy II (0-2-0) at Dignity Health Sports Park on Saturday night.
The victory sees SAFC remain perfect early on in the 2022 campaign.
“I’m incredibly proud of our team,” SAFC Head Coach Alen Marcina said. “They were cohesive, they competed for 90+ minutes and were definitely resilient. Especially when both teams got the red cards, that’s difficult for players and our guys got the result, and I’m proud of them.”
San Antonio opened the scoring early when David Loera put home the ball off the feed from Shannon Gomez, putting the visitors up 1-0 in the 10th minute. Following the goal, SAFC took the foot off the gas and would pay for it 20 minutes later when Los Dos leveled the score off a set piece that found a wide-open Carlos Harvey, who beat Christian Bonilla to make it a 1-1 game at the break.
David Loera kicking things off in style 😎@SanAntonioFC with an early advantage!#LAvSA pic.twitter.com/xde4D8zSbN
— USL Championship (@USLChampionship) March 19, 2022
The second half saw both clubs have men sent off but Mitchell Taintor’s head found the end of a San Antonio set-piece and converted the attempt to put SAFC back up 2-1 in the 54th minute. Los Angeles tried to throw everything at San Antonio to find the equalizer late but the visitors would escape with the narrow one-goal win.
BAR ⬇️ off a @MitchellTaintor header 😤#Defend210 pic.twitter.com/XL7HAMtAdR
— San Antonio FC (@SanAntonioFC) March 20, 2022
Here are three points from SAFC’s win over Los Dos:
Forming an attack
As mentioned last week, San Antonio is forming a new attack with Jose Gallegos and Marcus Epps not with new homes. Perhaps David Loera will be a part of that new-look attack. Loera scored his goal in San Antonio colors by finishing off a nice feed from Gomez and putting home a beauty of a goal.
With Santiago Patino coming back at some point and Fabien Garcia already in the scoring column, SAFC could have a nice three-headed go-to punch as the season rolls on and chemistry builds.
Goalkeeper depth
San Antonio has three very capable goalkeepers in their midst and any one of them could be a starter. Christian Bonilla got his second start in net on Saturday and despite not getting a clean sheet, he still had a solid outing.
With LA threatening to score in the final moments, Bonilla and the SAFC defense stood tall and prevented any real chance from Los Dos, securing their second win of the season.
Things to work on
Despite two wins to start the season, SAFC still has plenty to work on. They have sat back twice after scoring the opening goal, which saw LA knot the score in the first half Saturday.
“We all challenged each other to be better on the ball and practice what we preach in training, and I think everyone did that,” Taintor said. “It was great coming here and getting three points.”
UP NEXT:
San Antonio FC is now 2-0-0 (6 points) on the season and will return to the pitch next Sunday to face RGV FC (1-0-1) at 6:30 p.m. from HEB Park.
