San Antonio FC (16-2-3, 50 points) got a dramatic late equalizer from Shannon Gomez in 90' + 5' to earn a 1-1 draw with Los Angeles Galaxy II (9-4-10, 31 points) on Saturday night at Toyota Field. It was the first Goal of the season for Gomez who has been an impact player off the bench in the most recent run of games. SAFC had to finish the match with ten men after Forward Santiago Patiño was red carded in the 62' for abusive language following a hard foul by Galaxy's Carlos Harvey.
Harvey recieved a Yellow Card for his part. Joshua Drack scored the Galaxy Goal in the 87' from a free kick deep in the SAFC end.
For the home town heroics, Gomez was able to pounce on a loose ball in the box, winning the race to the ball with Galaxy Keeper Eric Lopez coming directly at him, and poking his header truimphantly past Lopez for the match tying Goal.
Said Gomez after the match, “We preach being mentality monsters, and putting your head and your body where nobody else wants to. And that was one of those moments of ‘if this ball bounces free, I need to get to the ball before the goalkeeper.’ That was the quick thinking, run in the box and try to equalize. We can’t lose at home, so that’s just one of the mindsets you have to have and I think every player on our team has adopted that.”
San Antonio FC finished the month of July without a defeat, winning 4 games plus the Draw vs LA. They also clinched the Copa Tejas Trophy for being the best Texas team in USL Championship. It was the second month of the season that SAFC finished without a loss this year, a feat they also achieved in March.
San Antonio still find themselves in commanding position in USL West despite dropping two points. They have a 7 point cushion and a game in hand over second place San Diego Loyal. But the watchful eyes are now starting to turn to the overall top seed in all of USL Championship. SAFC are in the pole position there as well with a 4 point lead over the top Eastern foe, Louisville City FC.
Added Manager Alen Marcina after the match,“In the first half, we had the game under control and the final action was a bit lacking. But its soccer. And then given all the adversity, going down [a man] on the red card, but what I’m most proud of is they demonstrated why we call them the mentality monsters. These guys never stopped fighting. Going a man down, continuing to press, I thought we were the better team a man down. First team to 50 points, and seven points of nine in three games in eight days.”
Next up for San Antonio FC is a road trip to face the aforementioned San Diego Loyal on Saturday night. It's the first meeting between the two teams since last year's opening round playoff matchup at Toyota Field. San Antonio won that game by a 2-0 score. SAFC can go 10 points ahead of San Diego with a win.
SAFC returns home on Wednesday August 10th for the first of three straight home games.
Full highlights from SAFC vs Los Angeles are below.
IMAGES - SAN ANTONIO FC
PHOTO - DARREN ABATE / INSTAGRAM: @peakaction