SAFC Ties Club Record for Wins in a Season with 17
SAN ANTONIO (August 10, 2022) – San Antonio FC defeated Loudon United FC 2-1 tonight to tie a club record for wins in a season at 17. The win, coming behind two goals from Samuel Adeniran, keeps the team atop the USL Championship with a 17-4-2 record and 53 points.
San Antonio struck early, with Adeniran scoring in the 10th minute off of an assist by Justin Dhillon. The goal ties Adeniran with Dhillon for the most goals on the team with six, and Dhillon’s seventh assist ties him for the third-most in a single season in club history.
Loudon scored in the 45th minute to level the match at halftime.
Shortly after halftime, Adeniran scored again on an assist from Nicky Hernandez to retake the lead at 2-1. Adeniran’s seventh goal of the season, and second brace, moves him out of a tie with Dhillon for the team lead in just 11 matches.
SAFC is at home again on Saturday, hosting Las Vegas Lights FC at 8:00 p.m. CT. Tickets for the match at Toyota Field are available at SanAntonioFC.com or the SAFC app, with the match broadcast on Bally Sports Southwest and ESPN+.
Scoring Summary:
SAFC: 1-0, Samuel Adeniran (Assisted by Justin Dhillon) 10’
LDN: 1-1, Moses Nyeman (Assisted by Skage Lehland) 45’
SAFC: 2-1, Samuel Adeniran (Assisted by Nicky Hernandez) 51’
Disciplinary Summary:
LDN: Yellow Card (Zanne Abdoul) 18’
SAFC: Yellow Card (Mitchell Taintor) 45+’
LDN: Yellow Card (Zoumana Diarra) 74’
Attendance: 4,756
SAFC Starting XI: GK: Jordan Farr; D: Mitchell Taintor, Fabien Garcia, Carter Manley, Saad Abdul-Salaam (Shannon Gomez 45’), Connor Maloney; M: PC (captain), Nicky Hernandez (Jordy Delem 63’); F: Samuel Adeniran, Santiago Patiño (Elliot Collier 63’), Justin Dhillon
Substitutions not used: Grant Makela, Henrik Sakshaug, Jasser Khmiri, Ates Diouf
Postgame Notes:
- SAFC falls to 17-4-2 on the season with 53 points, leading the USL Championship.
- With 11 matches left, the team’s 17 wins tie the club record for wins in a season, set during the 2017 season.
- Samuel Adeniran’s goal in the 10th minute marked his sixth of the season, tying him with Justin Dhillon for the team lead.
- Dhillon’s assist was his seventh of the season, leading the team and tied for fourth in the USL Championship.
- Dhillon’s seven assists on the season are tied for the third-most in a single-season in club history, and are the most since 2019.
- Adeniran’s second goal in the 51st minute moved him into sole possession of the team lead with seven goals in just 11 matches with the club.
- Adeniran’s brace is his second this season, and the fourth by an SAFC player.
- Nicky Hernandez’s assist on Adeniran’s goal was his second of the season, and first since April.
- Elliot Collier’s appearance as a substitute saw him on the pitch for the first time since June 4 in Sacramento, after missing the last 10 matches with a lower body injury.
- SAFC remains 17-0-2 on the season when scoring and 15-0-0 when scoring first.
Quotes:
Head Coach Alen Marcina
(On the win…)
“I think it was a dominant performance from start to finish. Yes the execution needs to be better, the amount of high percentage opportunities that we created over the course of the game – from the opening whistle all the way to end, you know it’s really unfortunate we didn’t have significantly more goals. At the same time, our pressing actions were fantastic. They were unable to create anything.”
Forward Justin Dhillon
(On the team tying to club record with 17 wins…)
“I think that we came in with a clear mission, clear identity and knew exactly what
our on-field goals were. And I think week after week we’ve for the most part executed that. And I think it shows when we execute – we dominate in terms of our press, winning the back high up the field, creating chances off of it. So to get 17 wins is a huge accomplishment, we’re definitely proud of it, but we know that there are many more wins to come.”
Forward Samuel Adeniran
(On bouncing back from a loss on Saturday…)
“It’s very important. Very very important. I think this sport that we play, we have a
lot of games where concentration might not be there, a touch might not be there, stuff like that but I think the most important thing is bouncing back. That’s all that reallyt matters. Everyone can have one bad game or two bad games in a season, which, it kid of feels like that’s what we had. Since we’ve been on such a good run, but I think after a game like that you’ve got to put it in the rearview mirror. Look at the mistakes that you made, look at what you did wrong and then hopefully in the next game you can be better and can focus on our identity because the way that we played in San Diego is not our identity. That’s not the way we play … That’s not what put us in first place. The way we played today, obviously by tweaking some things, doing better in certain areas, me personally scoring more, I think that’ll help, but I’m glad that we were able to fight to the end.”