San Antonio claims third Copa Tejas trophy and sixth playoff berth in club history
SAN ANTONIO (Oct. 25, 2025) – San Antonio FC made a triumphant return to the USL Championship playoffs Saturday night, defeating in-state rival El Paso Locomotive FC 5-2 at Toyota Field.
El Paso took the 1-0 advantage in the 7th minute, but San Antonio immediately followed with an answer as Santiago Patiño chested down a long-distance ball from Mitch Taintor and struck home his first goal at Toyota Field this season.
Capitalizing off a free kick opportunity, Luke Haakenson redirected a headed ball by Alexis Souahy for his fifth score of the season, giving SAFC the lead in the 23rd minute. An own goal by El Paso added some extra insurance for San Antonio heading into halftime.
San Antonio went on to put another tally on the board coming out of the break in the 54th minute, with Jorge Hernandez connecting with Nicky Hernandez on a set piece for the latter’s second score of the season.
El Paso followed with a goal of its own right after to make it 4-2, but SAFC was able to put the match away later in the 86th minute as Taintor headed in a corner kick from Jorge Hernandez.
With the win, SAFC not only locked in its sixth postseason appearance but also the 2025 Copa Tejas trophy, awarded to the team with the best head-to-head record against other Texas opponents.
Scoring Summary:
ELP: Amando Moreno (Assisted by Eric Calvillo) 7’
SA: Santiago Patiño (Assisted by Mitchell Taintor) 9’
SA: Luke Haakenson (Assisted by Alexis Souahy) 23’
SA: Tony Alfaro (Own goal) 35’
SA: Nicky Hernandez (Assisted by Jorge Hernandez) 54’
ELP: Christian Sorto (Assisted by Eric Calvillo) 55’
SA: Mitchell Taintor (Assisted by Jorge Hernandez) 86’
Next Up
San Antonio FC kicks off its postseason campaign next week, traveling to face New Mexico United in the USL Championship Western Conference Quarterfinals. Kickoff time and broadcast details for the match will be announced at a later time. The 10th anniversary season is presented by Toyota.
Postgame Notes:
- SAFC finishes the regular season at 11-12-7, clinching its fifth playoff berth in the last six seasons.
- SAFC reclaimed the 2025 Copa Tejas trophy after sweeping the season series over El Paso, also winning the 2022 and 2023 editions.
- San Antonio scored five goals for the second time this year, last doing so on September 13 against Loudoun United.
- Forward Santiago Patiño, midfielder Nicky Hernandez and defender Mitchell Taintor all scored their second goals of the season.
- Midfielder Luke Haakenson bagged his fifth goal of the season, good for second on the team.
- Defender Alexis Souahy became the 15th different player to record an assist this season, with Taintor becoming the fifth player to record multiple assists.
- With his fifth and sixth assists of the season, midfielder Jorge Hernandez now leads the squad with assists for the third consecutive year.
- San Antonio scored three goals in the first half for the first time this season.
- Defender Nelson Flores Blanco played a full 90 minutes in his first start back from injury, appearing for the first time since September 27.
- Forward Diogo Pacheco also made his first return from injury since September 27, subbing on for the final 18 minutes of play.
- Goalkeeper Richard Sanchez made three saves in the match.
Attendance: 8,164 (Sellout)
SAFC Starting XI: Richard Sanchez, Nelson Flores Blanco, Mitchell Taintor (Captain), Alexis Souahy, Rece Buckmaster, Almir Soto (Landry Walker 71’), Nicky Hernandez (Diogo Pacheco 71’), Lucio Berron (Mohamed Omar 46’), Luke Haakenson (Abdi Salim 85’), Jorge Hernandez, Santiago Patiño (Alex Greive 46’)
Substitutions Not Used: Leo Jauregui, Jimmy Medranda, Daniel Namani, Harvey Neville
Disciplinary Summary:
SA: Yellow Card (Mitchell Taintor) 9’
ELP: Yellow Card (Tony Alfaro) 21’
SA: Yellow Card (Lucio Berron) 28’
ELP: Yellow Card (Frank Daroma) 32’
ELP: Yellow Card (Amando Moreno) 38’
SA: Yellow Card (Luke Haakenson) 45+2’
Quotes:
Head Coach Carlos Llamosa
(On the win…)
“We’re happy. You know, it’s been a long season with a lot of up and downs, and I think the guys, they deserve to be in playoffs and to have a chance to compete for the cup, and now, you just take one game at a time. It doesn’t matter how many points those guys finish ahead of us. Now it’s game-by-game, even if they’re at home, it’s do or die.”
(On the team’s motivation coming into the match…)
“Well, the guys knew that they have the character tonight. They knew that winning means we make playoffs no matter what, other results in other venues, so that was our goal. We owe this performance to our fans, to our city, and the way they put it out there was fantastic. Hopefully we continue this way going into playoffs. I know every game is gonna be tough, so hopefully we continue having that kind of game.”
(On scoring five goals after the scoreless streak…)
“It gives us a lot of confidence, because in those four or five games we created chances. In Tulsa, in the first half, we had three or four chances. Credit to the goalie, and then we missed few in Phoenix also, so when we’re determined, when we’re pushing, when we don’t give up, we can create the chances and we can score balls, so scoring five today – we scored three in set pieces – we can find a way to score goals. The guys are confident that we can score goals one way or another.”
Defender Mitchell Taintor
(On clinching a playoff berth…)
“Like I said at the end, we faced a lot of adversity this year, but that’s what makes a really good team, a strong team. We knew we were going to hit adversity at some point. We hit it quite a bit, but we kept going. We kept full belief in ourselves, and tonight was the product of that, so congratulations to everyone. We deserve that.”
(On facing New Mexico in the playoffs…)
“I mean, after we lost to them the first time in New Mexico, we said, ‘That’s the team we’re gonna face come playoffs,’ and low and behold, that’s how it works, so we’re excited. They’re a good team. They’ve had our number this year, but it’s really difficult to beat someone four times, so we’re gonna go for it.”
(On winning the Copa Tejas trophy…)
“Yeah, listen, Copa Tejas is a trophy that we want to win. We do take it seriously, and it’s the first trophy of the year that we can put our hands on, so it’s always nice to be able to lift a trophy before playoffs, to get that feeling, know what it feels like, and, yeah, obviously it’s great for the fans, and yeah, we’re the champs of Texas right now, so it feels good.”
Defender Nelson Flores Blanco
(On heading into playoffs…)
“Yeah, we’re excited. I mean, when playoffs start, it doesn’t matter if you’re first or eighth. It’s one game, face-to-face, and you got to take it, and this was a playoff atmosphere here, so it was a good prep going into playoffs. This was a huge match for us, and I think we made a good statement. We have a talented locker room. It doesn’t matter who’s on the field, and like I said, the boys have a lot of experience going into playoffs. You have players that have played all over and yeah, we’re excited to go into playoffs. It doesn’t matter who we face, we’re talented.”
(On the team’s morale staying high after the winless streak…)
“We’ve always been positive. We know what we have in our locker room. We’ve battled a lot of injuries, aa lot of guys out for a certain amount of time, and it’s tough coming in and performing and I feel like this game was crucial for us, getting in a rhythm, especially getting guys back, so no, we were positive. We know what we have, and we’re not scared to go against anyone.”
