Locomotive FC Need a Big Performance Tonight Against San Antonio

It has been a great season for El Paso Locomotive FC. The club enters tonight's match against San Antonio FC on top of the USL's Midwest Division with a comfortable seven point cushion over second place Colorado Springs. The Copa Tejas is on the line as well, and a win or a draw by El Paso will bring the cup home to the Sun City. However, the Locos have not been as dominant on the pitch over the last few months as they had been earlier this summer.

Since August 14th, El Paso has three wins, one loss, and five draws for a total of 14 out of a possible 27 points. The club has been dealt a couple of tough finishes, including their most recent match in Colorado Springs when the Switchbacks tied it up in the final seconds. Instead of taking home three points on the road, the Locomotive settled for just one with the draw. The same ending happened a few weeks earlier in Austin.

Although those two recent draws felt more like losses for the Locomotive, El Paso flipped the script on September 3rd when Leandro Carrijo scored in the 90th minute to help the club tie Orange County SC 2-2. Rarely in soccer do draws actually feel like a draw. It either feels like a win or a loss.

There is still plenty of time for Locomotive FC to finish strong like they have in each of their first two seasons. The club still has a total of seven matches left in October before the USL Championship postseason. Veteran players like Carrijo and Eder Borelli are playing their best soccer since joining El Paso last season. Lucho Solignac leads the team with seven goals, but he has not found the net since August 21st. Squad depth is also key, since Head Coach Mark Lowry will need his bench players to come up big when they play valuable minutes for the club in October.

Kickoff tonight is set for 7 p.m. and the match will be televised on ESPN+ with Duke Keith and Heidi Moccia calling the action.