El Paso Locomotive Tie 2-2 with Regional Rival New Mexico United
The El Paso Locomotive FC failed to maintain a lead on two occasions Sunday night in a home match that resulted in a 2-2 draw versus New Mexico United at Southwest University Park. The Locomotive went toe-to-toe with one of the conference leaders and for a majority of the match play better than them, but it wouldn't be enough to secure the 3 points at home that would have put them in the top 5 of the western conference standings of the USL.
This tie gives the Locos a record of 3 wins, 4 draws and 2 losses, for 13 points on the season. El Paso fell to 13th place in the conference with this most recent draw, still they are only 5 points behind the top two places in the conference and only one point out of the playoff zone.
Foward Jerome Kiesewetter for the Locomotive scored both goals for the second match in a row. The first came in the 36th minute when a ball was stolen by defensive midfielder Richie Ryan who passed it off to Clavin Rezende. Rezende saw Kiesewetter make a vertical run and got the ball to him in the opposing goalbox where Jerome did not hesitate to take the strike and get it past New Mexico United goalkeeper Cody Mizell.
However, approximately 10 minutes later, in stoppage time, the United would get the equalizer off of a header from Sam Hamilton.
El Paso would come out in the second half dictating all aspects of the match. 20 minutes into the second half, in the 65th minute, Kiesewetter would find the back of the net again when Sebastian Contreras would send an aerial pass from the left flank and Locos forward would spike the ball down with his head into the lower right part of the goal.
Ryan William for New Mexico would deny the victory for the Locomotive when he would score from near the 6-yard goalbox for the equalizer.
An element that needs to be noted in this match was the work of the officiating crew. It was highly suspect at best. In the 72nd minute, both Yuma for El Paso and Santi Moar were sent off with red cards.
After the match, El Paso head coach Mark Lowry was analytical regarding the officiating job and acknowledged it affected the match. Lowry commented, “Yeah it did (affect the match), I'm not saying he was wrong to send 2 people off in that moment, I guess you have do something, there was a melee. We were up 2-1 at the time and in control of the game. Once you go to 10 v 10 now the game loses control because its just a whole new picture, different spaces, different everything...the game really goes out the window at that point...the whole flow of the game just changed.”
Up next for Locomotive will be its first ever Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup match against Forward Madison FC this coming Wednesday at Southwest University Park . Kickoff is scheduled for 7pm.