San Antonio FC (1-1-0, 4 points) played to a 2-2 draw with Real Monarchs (0-1-0, 1 point) on Saturday night at Toyota Field. SAFC built a 2-0 first half lead despite losing Forward Nathan to a straight red card in the 31' due to violent conduct on a player out of bounds. The Monarchs responded with two goals, one each from Midfielder Ibrahim Bance and Midfielder Bode Davis, in the first 10 minutes of the second half to even the game. Real Monarchs would also go down to ten men after Forward Christopher Garcia picked up his second yellow card of the match in the 75'. Marcus Epps and Emil Cuello scored for SAFC who have extended their unbeaten run at home to 15 consecutive Regular Season League games.
Said Manager Alen Marcina, “To go down a man so early, our guys showed a lot of resilience. We were still creating opportunities, but there were a few little details that cost us. I’m proud of the guys who demonstrated those resilient behaviors.”
SAFC opened the scoring in the 19th minute on a beatiful assist from Midfielder Cameron Lindley. He found Midfielder Marcus Epps streaking through the Monarchs box and buried a precise shot into the far corner beating 16-year-old Monarchs Keeper Jeff Dewsnup for the 1-0 lead. Said Epps after the game, "It was two teams really trying to get the win. On our side, we were really hungry. Its tough to play a man down and stay composed through the whole game, but I was proud of the guys’ effort and it showed on the field.”
Just before halftime, SAFC would double their lead. Midfielder Emil Cuello pounced on a deflection near the top of the box and hammered home his shot for a 2-0 SAFC lead in the 44'.
But the Monarchs would respond in the second half as Ibrahim Bance and Davis would each score within a span of eight minutes to earn a point for the visiting side. The first was on a ball played to Bance in the center of the SAFC box which proved to be easy pickings in the 47' for the Midfielder. On the second goal Davis flashed immense skill by pulling down the ball at the top of the box and quickly hitting a shot into the lower corner of San Antonio's net beating SAFC Keeper Matt Cardone in the 55' to wrap up the scoring on the night.
With it went two points for San Antonio FC. Still, it's one point earned for a team that had to play with ten men for most of the night. In most cases teams would be satisfied with a point earned from being down a man for such a long stretch of time. But having a 2 goal lead at the break and not being able to hang onto it might lead SAFC to feel differently about the final result on this night.
Next up for SAFC is a road trip down to the valley as they will face Texas rivals RGV-FC in the first Copa Tejas match of the season for both teams on Sunday May 16th. It will be the first road game of the season for San Antonio.
Scoring Summary:
SAFC: 1-0, Marcus Epps (Cam Lindley assist) 19’
SAFC: 2-0, Emil Cuello 44’
SLC: 2-1, Ibrahim Bance (Bode Davis assist) 48’
SLC: 2-2, Bode Davis 55’
Disciplinary Summary:
SLC: Yellow Card (Chris Garcia) 26’
SAFC: Red Card (Nathan) 31’
SAFC: Yellow Card (Santiago Patino) 38’
SAFC: Yellow Card (Cam Lindley) 45’
SAFC: Yellow Card (PC) 68’
SLC: Red Card (Chris Garcia) 75’
SLC: Yellow Card (James Moberg) 83’
SLC: Yellow Card (Sam Brown) 88’
Attendance: 3,735 (socially distant)
IMAGES: SAN ANTONIO FC TWITTER
PHOTO: DARREN ABATE / INSTAGRAM @PEAKACTION
FULL MATCH HIGHLIGHTS: