Locomotive FC Lose In Conference Finals After PK Magic Runs Out

El Paso Locomotive lost to the Phoenix Rising in a penalty kick shootout 4-2 in Scottsdale, Arizona on Saturday night in the Western Conference final of the USL Championship. The loss ended the Locos 13 match unbeaten streak in a season that ended in the conference finals for the second year in a row. Even in defeat it is still an impressive accomplishment, after all the Locos are only in their second year of existence.

As for the match itself, it was a same type of match that these two teams have had against one another in the handful of times they have met. El Paso had a subpar performance, definitely compared to their recent form, against a team Phoenix team that was nothing special.

You can even simplify it more. El Paso had three real threats on goal, two failed to go in and one did. Phoenix had one. That shot was deflected and went in. That simple, that unfair, and for Locomotive fans…that cruel.

The 1-1 tie after 90 minutes would bring on extra time. It would be evident very quickly that El Paso would try to simply survive the 30 extra minutes of play as dead legs for El Paso were evident obviously after going 120 minutes in the round of 16 and in the semi-finals of the playoffs.

El Paso would make it to the penalty kick shootout for a chance at advancing to the USL Championship Final. They would fall short of this accomplishment as Nick Ross and Aaron Gomez would miss their penalty kicks and the Rising would score on all of theirs for the win. After the match, Mark Lowry went to Twitter to express his thoughts.

[newsletter