Locomotive FC Defeats Real Monarchs 1-0, Win Streak Continues

Make it 5 wins in row for El Paso Locomotive FC. The Locos defeated Real Monarchs 1-0 Saturday night at Southwest University Park. This 5th consecutive win for El Paso also extends their unbeaten streak to 8 matches. Combine this with a New Mexico United loss and that puts the Locos in first place of group C of the USL Championship by 4 points over the team from Albuquerque. The Locomotive has amassed an outstanding record of 8 wins, 3 draws and 2 losses in 13 matches.

The lone goal in last night’s match came in the final minute of stoppage time after a first half that was rather even, with no domination demonstrated by either team or a high number of chances on goal created by either side.

Just when you thought the teams were going to go to the locker rooms in a scoreless draw that is when right fullback Memo Diaz connected with left fullback Éder Borelli who was making a run toward goal from a little more than 25 yards out. Borelli headed the ball into the far corner past the Monarchs keeper. The play was reminiscent of a quarterback hitting a wide receiver on a fly pattern…a gem of a goal.

Perhaps a possibly bigger occurrence that happened in the first half other than the goal in stoppage time was an injury to Andrew Fox. Fox collided with teammate Drew Beckie in the 18th minute and hurt his knee. Fox would continue, but was pulled in the 38th minute because of continued discomfort, taking his place would be Borelli who would score 6 minutes later.

The second half would see Locomotive be for offensively proficient who took more possession of the ball and created more opportunities on goal. The Locos were also able to close out the match in the final minutes in an authoritative manner and they were able quell any looming threats to score by the Monarchs.

After the match Mark Lowry was more than fair in his self-critique of his team’s performance over the course of 90 minutes. Lowry commented, "I am proud of the guys in the end. I was a little disappointed at halftime, I felt we weren’t at our best and we spoke about it. I don’t want to get into the excuse or place of 'well we made lot of changes, its not going to be the same', no when we make changes the level has to be the same. We trust everyone in the locker room, we said it before the game, no matter who is on the field our standard of excellence and our intensity stays were it needs to and I thought it was a little off in the first half…the second half was us. It was played in their half of the field, defended really well. The guys in the back line and all throughout the team was a much better from."

After 3 wins in the course of 7 days the team from the 915 will get a full week to prepare for a New Mexico United match. The match will be a home match for the Locos as the match was moved from Albuquerque to El Paso due to New Mexico’s COVID-19 regulations. The Locos will lock up first place in group C if they obtain the win. The match is scheduled to kickoff at 730pm at Southwest University Park and will be televised locally on the CW and nationally on ESPN+.