Tani Oluwaseyi Scores and Assists in Front of Sellout Crowd
SAN ANTONIO (July 1, 2023) – San Antonio FC topped Birmingham Legion FC 3-1 in front of a sold out Toyota Field tonight, moving to 7-3-7 on the season with 28 points. Tani Oluwaseyi scored and assisted in the win, extending his team lead in both categories.
San Antonio jumped out early, with Jorge Hernandez ripping a shot from just outside the box to make it 1-0 in the 10th minute. The goal was Hernandez’s first with SAFC, and came on an assist from Ismaila Jome for the defender’s first assist with SAFC.
SAFC added another nearly an hour later, after Jacori Hayes stole a ball from Birmingham and found Oluwaseyi for a breakaway goal. Oluwaseyi’s goal was his sixth to extend his team-leading total.
Birmingham pulled one back in the 81st, but SAFC would add another in stoppage time to make it a 3-1 win. Justin Dhillon tallied his first score of the season on an assist from Oluwaseyi. Oluwaseyi’s assist brings his season total to four, extending his team lead.
Goalkeeper Jose Carlos Mercado made his first career USL Championship start, making three saves in the win.
The win puts SAFC third in the Western Conference table, and extends the team’s unbeaten home run to 27 straight matches without a loss. Additionally, the team moves to 55-straight matches without a loss when scoring first.
Next Up
San Antonio FC is on the road next week, traveling for a Friday matchup with Memphis 901 FC. Kickoff from Tennessee is set for 7:30 p.m. CT, with the match broadcast on ESPN+.
Postgame Notes:
- San Antonio FC moves to 7-3-7 on the season with 28 points, good for third in the Western Conference.
- SAFC is unbeaten in the last 27 home matches, going 17-0-10.
- When scoring first, SAFC is now unbeaten in the last 55 matches when scoring first, going 46-0-9.
- The announced attendance of 8,266 is the team’s fourth sellout of the year, matching the club best for a single regular season, set in 2017.
- The 8,266 person crowd is the fourth-highest attendance in team history.
- Defender Ismaila Jome made his first start with SAFC, after joining the team last week.
- Goalkeeper Carlos Mercado made his first career start in the USL Championship.
- Midfielder Jorge Hernandez’s goal in the 10th minute was his first of the season and first with SAFC.
- Jome’s assist on Hernandez’s goal was his first with SAFC, after joining the squad last week.
- Forward Tani Oluwaseyi’s goal in the 62nd minute was his sixth of the season, extending his team lead.
- Midfielder Jacori Hayes assisted on Oluwaseyi’s goal, his first assist of the season.
- Forward Justin Dhillon’s goal in the 91st minute was his first of the season, and 14th with SAFC.
- Oluwaseyi’s assist on Dhillon’s goal was his fourth of the season, also extending a team high.
Quotes:
Head Coach Alen Marcina
(On the team at the midseason point…)
“I’m pleased with the team, establishing a 27 home game unbeaten run, that’s highly impressive so that’s a massive accomplishment in itself, and hopefully we’re not done, hopefully we continue to add to that home undefeated streak. I’m also very pleased that we’re out there among league leaders in the Western Conference, the first half of the season is now complete. Given all the challenges and adversity we’ve gone through, what I’m probably most excited about is this group hasn’t even come close to reaching its full potential. So there’s a lot more we can do, a lot more we can give, and to me as a coach, as leaders, as a team it’s very exciting.”
(On the win…)
“I felt we were the aggressors, with and without the ball. Over the course of 90 minutes, we earned those three points. We do have to work a little bit on our isolation one versus one defending … Birmingham has excellent attacking players and we new that, so we’ve got to improve on some individual defending, but other than that a very very good collective team performance.”
Forward Tani Oluwaseyi
(On the win in front of a sold out crowd…)
“I think coming into this game one thing that Alen said in the locker room it’s been a business approach all week you know we’ve had a tough run of games so today was really big for every single one of us to get a win not just for us but for the fans as well, a sold out crowd, incredible crowd, and we love that we were able to do that for them.”
(On what led up to his goal…)
“Shout out to Jacori Hayes, he was the one who poked the ball off the center back. You know we’re a very pressing team, we’re a very intense team when it comes to that so that was kind of our game plan he pressed up he won the ball and for me it was just kind of, I’d had a chance before that which I missed cause I was going too fast so this one I made sure I kind of slowed myself down and prepped it. I waited for the defender to kind of drive him in which would kind of throw the goalie off a little bit and slide it.”
(On Carlos Mercado’s performance…)
“All credit to Carlos man, he’s one of the best guys in the locker room, and he comes in every day and works his butt off. He’s one of the most vocal guys in the locker room and his work ethic is incredible so, to see it pay off in the way that it did. He made a couple of really big saves, all credit to him and you know, we’re close to each other in the locker room. I love being with him in the locker room, I love being out there on the field with him. All the credit to him for all the work he’s put in.”
Midfielder Jorge Hernandez
(On breaking the winless streak…)
“Enormous because I think it’s what we needed to get the momentum going we got this upcoming game that’s really important to us and we said we were going to go game by game so one step down and now we focus on the next game.”
(On the camaraderie within the team…)
“It’s awesome, I feel like the locker room plays a big part. Everyone in the locker room is cool and jokes, but when it’s time to play we’re serious but after we win together, we lose together so I feel like having that bond as brothers and when we’re having a bad game we lift each other up. It’s really big for us.”