SAFC extends home unbeaten streak to seven straight matches
SAN ANTONIO (July 4, 2026) – San Antonio FC earned a hard-fought point against Monterey Bay after a scoreless draw in its return back to Toyota Field Saturday night.
SAFC generated chances throughout the evening and controlled long stretches of possession, with Akeem O’Connor-Ward nearly ending the deadlock in the 61st minute, but was unable to find the breakthrough against the visitors.
On the opposite end, the San Antonio defense turned in a strong performance despite playing down a man for the last 30 minutes of the game to secure the club’s fifth clean sheet in league play.
Next Up
San Antonio FC closes out group play in the USL Prinx Tires Cup next Saturday, July 11, hosting USL League One side Chattanooga Red Wolves SC. SAFC enters the final round of group play in first place in Group 3 with 8 points. Kickoff from Toyota Field is set for 8:00 p.m. CT, and the match will be broadcast nationally on ESPN2. The 2026 season is presented by Toyota.
Postgame Notes:
- SAFC moves to 6-2-7 on the season with 25 points, remaining in second place in the Western Conference standings.
- San Antonio remains undefeated against Monterey Bay all-time with a 5-0-4 record, with the sides recording scoreless draws in the last three meetings.
- San Antonio is also unbeaten at home in league play this year with a 4-0-3 record and five clean sheets.
- The SAFC defense held Monterey Bay to just one shot on target.
- San Antonio is now tied for the third-most clean sheets in the league with five this season.
Attendance: 7,074
SAFC Starting XI: Joey Batrouni, Alex Crognale, Mitchell Taintor (Captain), Danny Barbir (Santiago Patiño 85’), Akeem O’Connor Ward, Emil Cuello, Mikey Maldonado, Curt Calov (Lucio Berron 56’), Dmitrii Erofeev (Cristian Parano 56’), Jorge Hernandez, Christian Sorto (Richard Sanchez 65’)
Substitutions Not Used: Nelson Flores Blanco, Luke Haakenson, Nicky Hernandez, Leo Urrutia
Disciplinary Summary:
SA: Yellow Card (Mitchell Taintor) 27’
SA: Yellow Card (Alex Crognale) 30’
MB: Yellow Card (Nico Gordon) 50’
SA: Red Card (Joey Batrouni) 63’
MB: Yellow Card (Zackery Farnsworth) 80’
SA: Yellow Card (Akeem O’Connor-Ward) 90’
MB: Yellow Card (Ilijah Paul) 90+10’
MB: Yellow Card (Anisse Saidi) 90+10’
SA: Second Yellow Card (Mitchell Taintor) 90+10’
Quotes:
Head Coach Carlos Llamosa
(On the draw…)
“Yeah, tough match. Monterey Bay, when they pressed us, they pressed man-to-man, and we struggled a little bit with that kind of press. In the second half, I think we start creating more in the attacking third with [Cristian Parano], Jorge [Hernandez] up front, and then after the red card, we just try to make sure don’t give up anything in the back, at least to walk out here with the point and not losing. We knew there was going to be the hard, but I think we did well defensively, and then created one or two chances after that, even with a man down, even the PK, so I mean we have to congratulate my players, because we play almost 25-30 minutes with a man down, and then [Parano] went down. He couldn’t run the last 10 minutes in the game, so the guy had to make an extra effort to keep the point.”
(On the team’s offense …)
“We didn’t create clear chances. We didn’t until the PK and Akeem [O’Connor-Ward’s] shot on goal, but that’s what I told the guys sometime we’re going to encounter this kind of games like one opportunity in 90 minutes, and that’s the one we have to finish. We need to finish. That’s something that we saw in the World Cup a lot of teams with a low block, very compact, not too many chances on either end, and then one decision, one clear chance, those guys put it away, so we need to work more on those little details.”
Goalkeeper Richard Sanchez
(On subbing on in the second half…)
“I was prepared, more so mentally. Physically, I knew that I was gonna warm up in there. I warmed up on the sideline, but sometimes it’s required just to stay mentally focused and making sure that you know what’s going on in the game, and in this, in this instance, it happened with me, and so I was prepared for it, and you know, at least we got a draw.”
(On playing down a man…)
“Well, it’s a motivation, because you’re a man down, and so you’re actually focused for sure, especially when you want to close out the game in the last 20 minutes or so. Yeah, I think it does pick up the focus a little bit more, and the intensity is obviously going to be picked up by the other team as well, and so you’re gonna have to match that, and again, I thought defensively we did pretty well in that.”
Midfielder Mikey Maldonado
(On the draw…)
“It’s a game. Honestly, that’s soccer. You don’t know what’s going to come out of it. I mean, sure, some calls can go either way, but I mean, we fought, we got a point out of it, so couldn’t ask for anything more for the guys fighting … Two men down, to come out with a point, that’s a championship team. I mean, it sucks that it’s only one point, but not to give up anything … even going down to the last final minutes, we were getting the chances, so we’re still fighting, even with two men down, and I think that shows a lot for us.”
