San Antonio FC (3-3-7) finished a stretch of three road matches in eight days by losing their third straight game, this one at the hands of Sacramento Republic. Sacramento Republic (5-2-5) scored two second half goals to secure the win.
The first one was thanks to a SAFC own goal on Defender Joshua Yaro in the 78' and the match winner came from Sam Werner five minutes later. That put Sacramento ahead 2-0 in the 83'. San Antonio Captain Michael Lahoud would score his first goal in a SAFC uniform in added time but it was too little too late to save San Antonio.
It was a cruel ending for a SAFC defense that battled all night long as they were under heavy duress from the home side right from the opening kickoff. San Antonio had 29 clearances on defense and they were out shot 21-6 on the night.
SAFC Goal Keeper Matt Cardone would finish the game with 6 saves, tying his season high. After the game, he talked about the mentality of the team. “We need to regroup and go again. We have a lot of games left and we’re not out of anything by any means. We had some good moments tonight and played hard, and we have to continue that because we have time to turn things around.”
It didn't take long for San Antonio's defense to get tested. In the 9' Matt Cardone made a terrific fingertip save off of a Stefano Bonomo shot. He would make a second, equally good save against the same striker head-on in the 16'. Bonomo was clearly feeling it early on after scoring the match winner on Wednesday night in the 122' in Open Cup play for Sacramento against Fresno.
Cardone would make 4 saves just in the opening 25 minutes of the match as Sacramento piled up seven shots in that same time frame.
Sacramento Forward Cameron Iwasa looked to have the beak-through in the 36' when he put the ball in the back of the net, but after a couple minutes of discussion by the referees, the goal was waived off for offside.
The first half would finish 0-0 after San Antonio fired away 21 clearances on defense and despite being out shot 11-2 in the opening 45 minutes.
In the second half Sacramento Midfielder Sam Werner had a golden opportunity to get a goal when a rebound landed at his feet with a wide open net in front of him but he pushed his shot way wide of the goal in the 57'.
Three minutes later Bonomo would have another excellent opportunity when a cross wasn't cleared and it went right past him directly in front of the goal mouth. But he stepped over the ball and couldn't get a touch on it.
That would set the tone for Sacramento's two late goals as they sent SAFC to their seventh road loss of the season in all competitions. San Antonio FC is now 6 points off of playoff pace and fading very fast. They still have two more road games on the schedule this month.
Next up for SAFC is a home match on June 8th against Reno 1868 FC.
Scoring Summary:
SRFC: 1-0, Own Goal (Josh Yaro) 78’
SRFC: 2-0, Sam Werner (Ray Saari assist) 83’
SAFC: 2-1, Michael Lahoud (Walter Restrepo assist) 90’
Disciplinary Summary:
SRFC: Yellow Card (Dekel Keinan) 12’
SAFC: Yellow Card (Michael Lahoud) 69’
SRFC: Yellow Card (Jordan McCrary) 90’
MATCH HIGHLIGHTS:
IMAGES: SAN ANTONIO FC TWITTER