Stoppage Time Score Caps Two-Goal Comeback
SAN ANTONIO (August 20, 2022) – San Antonio FC came back from a 0-2 deficit at halftime to draw Rio Grande Valley FC tonight 2-2. The equalizer came from Mitchell Taintor in stoppage time to keep SAFC at the top of the USL Championship standings with an 18-4-3 record.
SAFC fell behind in the first half after RGV FC goals in the 34th and 36th minutes. The score held until the 59th minute, when Shannon Gomez scored on a ball from Cristian Parano to cut the deficit in half.
Then in the sixth minute of stoppage time, Mohammed Abu lofted a free kick to Taintor, who headed in the equalizer.
The late goal was the second stoppage-time equalizer from SAFC in the last five matches, after Gomez scored in the 95th minute against LA to tie the Galaxy II at 1-1 on July 30.
SAFC starts a stretch of two-straight matches away from home next week, traveling to take on Indy Eleven. The Saturday match kicks off at 6:00 p.m. CT, and will be streamed on ESPN+.
Scoring Summary:
RGV: 0-1, Christian Pinzon 35’
RGV: 0-2, Akeem Ward (Assisted by Christian Pinzon) 36’
SAFC: 1-2, Shannon Gomez (Assisted by Cristian Parano) 59’
SAFC: 2-2, Mitchell Taintor (Assisted by Mohammed Abu) 90+6’
Disciplinary Summary:
SAFC: Yellow Card (Jasser Khmiri) 17’
SAFC: Yellow Card (Mohammed Abu) 18’
SAFC: Yellow Card (Jordan Farr) 43’
SAFC: Yellow Card (Samuel Adeniran) 45’
SAFC: Yellow Card (Connor Maloney) 53’
RGV: Yellow Card (Emilio Ycaza) 80’
SAFC: Yellow Card (Ignacio Bailone) 84’
SAFC: Yellow Card (Mitchell Taintor) 90’
RGV: Yellow Card (Akeem Ward) 90+5’
RGV: Yellow Card (Robert Coronado) 90+9’
RGV: Second Yellow Card, Red Card (Robert Coronado) 90+10’
Attendance: 6,511
SAFC Starting XI: GK: Jordan Farr; D: Mitchell Taintor, Jasser Khmiri (Jordy Delem 45’), Saad Abdul-Salaam (Ignacio Bailone 66’), Shannon Gomez, Connor Maloney; M: Mohammed Abu, Nicky Hernandez (Cristian Parano 45’); F: Samuel Adeniran, Santiago Patiño (Elliot Collier 58’), Justin Dhillon
Substitutions not used: Grant Makela, Ates Diouf, Jordan Ayimbila
Postgame Notes:
- SAFC moves to 18-4-3 on the season with 57 points, leading the USL Championship.
- Shannon Gomez’s goal in the 59th minute was just the second in his USL Championship career, with both goals coming in the last five matches.
- Cristian Parano assisted on Gomez’s goal in his first appearance of the season with SAFC, subbing on at halftime.
- Mitchell Taintor’s goal in stoppage time was his fifth goal of the season, extending a career best.
- Mohammed Abu’s assist on Taintor’s goal was his fourth of the season and third to Taintor.
- SAFC remains unbeaten at 18-0-3 on the season when scoring.
Quotes:
Head Coach Alen Marcina
(On the draw…)
“Proud of the guys’ resilience. To go two goals down on our mistakes, not what they did … errors on our part, it’s unacceptable – to continue to fight, to show the resilience and get the draw. We wanted the win, but we’ll learn from this, take the point, recover and move on.”
Defender Mitchell Taintor
(On disappointment from not walking away with the win…)
“Yeah for sure and it just shows, especially at this level, you give a team a couple
chances and anything can happen. They scored almost an identical goal to what Nicky did last week, and you know I didn’t text that guy. But it was really unfortunate we weren’t tuned in, and we got punished for it. So that’s on us, and that’s something that we really need to take a hard look in the mirror and fix for next week. Although Indy isn’t high up on the table they’re a really good team and we need to sort it out.”
Defender Shannon Gomez
(On Taintor’s goal…)
“It just speaks to the resilience of the group. We’re at home and we have … a fighting spirit. We have things that we want to do. We have guidelines, we have certain stuff that we need to follow, and resilience is number one on that list. We needed to get something out of the game. Obviously there’s a lot of time wasting and all that stuff and you know we just remained tuned in and have an opportunity like that. Mitch came up big for us, he’s done that many times this season so that’s nothing new.”
