SAFC earns victory in front of largest home opener crowd since 2016
SAN ANTONIO (March 8, 2025) – San Antonio FC entered its new era with a 1-0 win over Monterey Bay F.C. in front of a sellout crowd at Toyota Field Saturday.
SAFC dominated the first half offensively, putting up 11 shots and four shots on target to open the match. Mitchell Taintor redirected a free kick into the box for Diogo Pacheco to finish off for the score in the 40th minute, the latter scoring his first goal for the club in his debut.
The SAFC defense held its first clean sheet of the season, holding Monterey Bay without a shot on target the entire night.
Scoring Summary:
SAFC: Diogo Pacheco (Assisted by Mitchell Taintor) 40’
Next Up
San Antonio FC hosts Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC Saturday, March 15 at Toyota Field. Tickets are on sale now at SanAntonioFC.com or on the SAFC app. The 10th anniversary season is presented by Toyota.
Postgame Notes:
- Defender Mitchell Taintor became just the 12th player in USL Championship history to surpass 20,000 regular season minutes.
- Diogo Pacheco scored his first club goal of the regular season, having scored two in preseason competition.
- San Antonio outshot Monterey Bay 15-6 on the night, also leading shots on target 4-0.
- SAFC has scored in its last 10 home matches, dating back to last season.
- San Antonio remains undefeated in home openers, going 7-0-3 all-time in first matches at Toyota Field, while outscoring opponents 22-7 with six clean sheets.
- SAFC is undefeated in the last 33 USL Championship matches when leading at halftime dating back to 2021.
- Seven different players made their SAFC debut this match (Crognale, Medranda, Soto, Pacheco, Berron, Greive and Souahy)
Attendance: 8,164 (Sellout)
SAFC Starting XI: Richard Sanchez, Mitchell Taintor, Alex Crognale, Jimmy Medranda, Rece Buckmaster (Luke Haakenson 77’), Almir Soto, Nicky Hernandez (Lucio Berron 90’), Jorge Hernandez, Diogo Pacheco (Alex Greive 88’), Jake LaCava, Juan Agudelo (Alexis Souahy 77’)
Substitutions Not Used: Daniel Namani, Shannon Gomez, Sebastian Seiterle, Dmitrii Erofeev
Disciplinary Summary:
MB: Yellow Card (Xavi Gnaulati) 26’
SA: Yellow Card (Jimmy Medranda) 33’
SA: Yellow Card (Mitchell Taintor) 42’
MB: Yellow Card (Miles Lyons) 74’
SA: Yellow Card (Nicky Hernandez) 85’
Quotes:
Head Coach Carlos Llamosa
(On the win…)
“I feel happy and grateful. Thanks to my staff, my players, I think they left everything on the field. Thanks to SAFC fans, the crowd tonight was unbelievable. You can’t ask more. You know, I think the feeling the support of that crowd out there gives an extra motivation to go there and get the win.”
(On what the team not allowing a shot on target…)
“I was very impressed with the way the team behaved out there. You know, they defended as a group. As I said from the beginning, it’s not only the defenders. We defend as a unit, 10 guys committed in front of your goalkeeper. We’re going to be tough defensively, so they did it tonight in the first game, and I appreciate that from my players. Obviously, still room to improve, more work to do to get better, but I’m glad and very pleased with the performance tonight.”
Goalkeeper Richard Sanchez
(On the team’s strong defensive performance…)
“It says a lot about their defensive effort. Mitch, [Alex Crognale], Alexis and even the guys in front of them, they held it down. They work hard to not let any shot on goal, or at least any easy shot, but my job is to keep the ball out of the net, and so I’m just aware and ready for whatever comes inside the box, so great defensive effort by everybody.”
(On improvements to take away from the match…)
“There’s always room for improvement, but, you know, right now, it’s the first game of the season, and we’re just gonna focus on this, on the good things that we did well, and then, as the season goes on, we’re gonna assess where we need to improve internally. We know that there are certain aspects that we can still improve on. One of the things is obviously, with our style of play, it’s the precision in the passes and being intentional with the way that we play, so perhaps that’s one of the things that we can improve on, but again, I thought that we showed a great character throughout the game, especially given the wind factor. I thought we showed personality and our style of play, and we executed it well.”
Forward Diogo Pacheco
(On scoring the first goal of the season…)
“It’s a very special feeling. Crazy atmosphere, all these fans here, the stadium, the pitch, everything was perfect tonight. Thanks to all the fans that showed up. It was magical and a perfect way to start the year.”
