SAFC Takes a Point After Playing Final 70 Minutes With 10 Men
SAN ANTONIO (June 3, 2023) – San Antonio FC drew San Diego Loyal SC 3-3 tonight, behind a goal and an assist from Mitchell Taintor. The draw moves SAFC to 6-2-5 with 23 points on the season, and extends the team’s unbeaten streak at home to 25-straight matches.
SAFC put two goals away inside the first five minutes – Tani Oluwaseyi scored first in the third minute before Rida Zouhir scored on a direct free kick in the fifth minute to make it an early 2-0 lead.
Oluwaseyi’s goal was his fifth of the season, extending his team lead, while Zouhir’s strike comes a week after scoring his first professional goal. Taintor assisted on Oluwaseyi’s goal, his first of the season.
Not long after, Taintor scored a goal himself after collecting a rebound in the box to make it 3-0 in the 16th minute. In the 20th minute, Oluwaseyi was sent off after receiving his second yellow card of the night to leave SAFC with 10 men for the final 70 minutes.
Goalkeeper Jordan Farr made three highlight-reel saves in the second half, but San Diego scored in the 75th and 79th minutes to bring it within one goal, before scoring in the fifth minute of stoppage time to make it a 3-3 final.
Next Up
San Antonio FC is at Toyota Field again next weekend for the last of three-straight home matches, hosting El Paso Locomotive FC on Saturday, June 10. The match kicks off at 8:00 p.m. CT, with tickets still available at SanAntonioFC.com or the SAFC app. The match will be broadcast locally on Bally Sports Southwest, or nationally on ESPN+.
Postgame Notes:
- San Antonio FC moves to 6-2-5 on the season with 23 points.
- The draw extends San Antonio’s home unbeaten streak to 25 matches. Additionally, SAFC’s unbeaten streak when scoring first moves to 53 matches.
- Midfielder and captain PC made his return to the pitch after missing the last six matches with a lower body injury, entering as a halftime substitute.
- SAFC posted the same starting lineup for the second straight match, the first time this season that the team has used a lineup more than once.
- Forward Tani Oluwaseyi scored his fifth goal of the season, in just his fifth match with the team.
- Defender Mitchell Taintor assisted on Oluwaseyi’s goal, his first assist of the season.
- Midfielder Rida Zouhir’s goal in the fifth minute was his second of the season, after scoring his first professional goal last week.
- Taintor’s goal in the 17th minute was his first of the season, and seventh with SAFC.
Quotes:
Head Coach Alen Marcina
(On the draw…)
“We were dominant. The first obviously three goals [we were] in complete control of the game. We were the aggressors with and without the ball. San Diego did not have any solutions. Obviously, certain decisions change games. It’s difficult, part of my guy’s resilience to be a man down close to 80 minutes, when you think about the extra time added. Sure, we wanted the three points. Felt we earned the three points. It’s one point. We continue this undefeated streak over the last two years [at home], keep it going.”
(On the late goals allowed…)
“It’s soccer, and unfortunately stuff like that happens. We defended very very well, two of them were set pieces. Just good finishes, it’s soccer – goals happen. It’s part of the game. We have a lot of positives to take from this because we were absolutely dominating one of the best teams in the USL Championship. Again, decisions are made, and it became challenging. We leave with a point, felt we earned three points, we’ll move on.”
(On positives to take from the match…)
“We were the superior team, scored three goals – all earned goals. Controlling the play, again with and without the ball. So it’s a lot of positives, and our guys fought hard. For the 90 plus minutes, they were resilient, yeah I think it was unfortunate that we only got a point not three points, but it’s soccer.”
Goalkeeper Jordan Farr
(On the draw…)
“10 men down for 70 minutes is really a difficult place to be, but we actually rated ourselves highly. San Diego did a great job, breaking us down. I think it starts with the first goal. For us as a backline, we hold ourselves to a super high standard. Not giving [Ronaldo] Damus time on the ball is something that we need to do better at and it comes from communication from me. We’re not a team that’s going to make excuses ever, I will say we gave the fans a wonderful show – it’s a good product for soccer I believe. But at the end of the day it sucks, it sucks. It feels like two points lost, big time. But yeah, that’s kind of the nature of the game.”
(On the team’s response…)
“We gotta reflect and, I think it just comes down to us as a team – we win together we lose together, all eleven or 10 guys on the field, plus our staff and guys on the reserves. We all take that as a loss, to be fair. We’re proud, at the same time, because what we did wasn’t easy, but I’ve seen a lot of teams lose those games. And we’re just going to refuse to make excuses and continue to fight forward, and we’ve got three big games coming up. So it’s kind of about putting it behind us at this point.”
Defender Mitchell Taintor
(On his performance…)
“I’m happy to help the team. The first goal and first assist of the year so, I’m obviously happy to help in that way. Obviously a pretty disappointing ending to the game, but going down a man in 15 minutes or whatever it was into the game it was tough. I thought we fought really well, played our hearts out for 70 minutes or 90 minutes- sorry. Tough play, I think.”
(On the team’s resilience…)
“I think today was a really good test for our mentality and our work and to see where we’re at as a team. We said at half time let’s see what we’re made of right now. We led up to three goals, but I think everyone gave their all tonight. Everyone’s exhausted. You can ask for a better result, but you can’t ask for a better effort and better resilience from the guys on the field tonight. Everyone fought and gave 110 percent.”
