San Antonio goes undefeated in USL Cup group play
SAN ANTONIO (July 11, 2026) – San Antonio FC earned its second consecutive berth to the Prinx Tires USL Cup quarterfinals with a 2-0 victory over Chattanooga Red Wolves SC Saturday at Toyota Field.
SAFC broke through just before halftime when Santiago Patiño finished a setup from Nicky Hernandez in the 45th minute. Curt Calov doubled the advantage a minute later with a strike from distance to send SAFC into the break with a 2-0 cushion.
San Antonio’s defense took over from there, with goalkeeper Richard Sanchez making three saves to give San Antonio its third clean sheet of the competition.
With the win, SAFC finishes atop its USL Cup group to advance to the quarterfinals for the second straight season. San Antonio will find out its next match-up in the knockout round in the Prinx Tires USL Cup draw, airing on the USL YouTube channel on Monday, July 13 at 12:00 p.m. CT.
Scoring Summary
SA: Santiago Patiño (Assisted by Nicky Hernandez) 45’
SA: Curt Calov 45+1’
Next Up
San Antonio FC finishes out a three-match homestand next weekend, hosting Las Vegas Lights FC on Saturday, July 18. Kickoff from Toyota Field is set for 8:00 p.m. CT, and the match will be broadcast on ESPN+. The 2026 season is presented by Toyota.
Postgame Notes:
- SAFC moves onto the quarterfinal round of the USL Cup for the second consecutive season. San Antonio went undefeated in group play, going 3-0-1 with a shootout win for 11 points.
- San Antonio allowed just one goal over the course of its group play matches, with goalkeeper Richard Sanchez registering a tournament-high three clean sheets.
- SAFC remains unbeaten at home in league play this season with six shutouts.
- Forward Santiago Patiño scored his first goal this season and his 29th overall for the club, the most in club history.
- Midfielder Curt Calov scored his second goal across all competitions for SAFC this season.
- Midfielder Nicky Hernandez recorded his first assist of the season.
Attendance: 5,255
SAFC Starting XI: Richard Sanchez, Akeem O’Connor-Ward, Danny Barbir, Mitchell Taintor (Captain), Alexis Souahy, Nelson Flores Blanco, Lucio Berron (Mikey Maldonado 80’), Curt Calov, Nicky Hernandez (Diogo Pacheco 68’), Luke Haakenson (Christian Sorto 69’), Santiago Patiño (EJ Johnson 80’)
Substitutions Not Used: Joey Batrouni, Alex Crognale, Emil Cuello
Disciplinary Summary:
SA: Yellow Card (Lucio Berron) 27’
SA: Yellow Card (Mitchell Taintor) 49’
SA: Yellow Card (Nelson Flores Blanco) 61’
SA: Yellow Card (Santiago Patiño) 67’
CHA: Yellow Card (Pedro Hernandez) 68’
SA: Yellow Card (Akeem O’Connor-Ward) 75’
Quotes:
Head Coach Carlos Llamosa
(On the performance…)
“I think we had a great first half. We controlled the entire 45 minutes, scored two good goals, and in the second half, there were moments we lost control of the ball. We need to manage the game better. You know, we some at some point in the game we can’t have the both teams kind of attacking. We have to lead. We have the extra players on the middle. We should do better to control the ball and not finish like that, but glad with the win, with the three points. Overall, I think the guys had a great performance.”
(On winning the group…)
“No, it feels good. That was a good group, a tough group, and I think the team did well getting great results at Tulsa and Knoxville, and then tonight, so we did really well, and hopefully we continue like that in this cup.”
(On the team getting results despite rotation …)
“It says a lot. Especially I was very pleased with the first 45 minutes. Santi [Patiño], Nicki [Hernandez], all those guys, Luke [Haakenson], they were doing a lot of runs behind the back line. The rotation of the ball was pretty good, disrupting their low block that they had initially, and pleased with those guys the way they perform, so hopefully we have the opportunity to give them more minutes in the future, and we can have the whole squad available.”
Defender Alexis Souahy
(On the win…)
“Yeah, the objective was clear: finish at the top of the of the table of that group stage. We did that in a professional manner, 2-0 at home. I thought we dominated the game for the most part, took care of the game in the first half. We cannot let ourselves down in the beginning of the second half, and then we just controlled in the in the later part of the second half, and we ended up with a 2-0 win, top of the table, so very positive moving forward.”
(On getting another clean sheet…)
“It’s massive, not only for Rich [Sanchez], the backline, but for the whole team. It shows the work we’ve done during the week. We worked on both sides of the ball, and I don’t think we gave up much tonight. To be honest, I don’t know how many shots on target. I haven’t looked at stats, but I don’t remember us giving much up. No, I think we’re solid defensively, and I think it was more that we gave them those opportunities to get to the final third than them creating, you know, so very, very solid performance overall. We were good, mid-block, high press. They gave the ball away a lot, we made the game predictable for the most part, so very, very good defensive performance for sure, and something we can build on moving forward.”
Forward Santiago Patiño
(On getting on the scoresheet for the first time this year…)
“Yeah I’m very excited, very happy to be able to score again, and I have scored many goals for this club and on this field, and you know sometimes it can it can be like this, but always looking at the big picture, always trying to get better. I knew this was gonna come. It just it was a matter of time, and you know I want to take this to keep building on this and to be able to help the team more.”
(On advancing to the quarterfinals again…)
“We’re taking this tournament very serious and know there’s a trophy on the line. We want to keep bringing trophies to this club, and we have a great club, great organization, and everybody that is here knows that, and we want to respect it, and we want to work hard for the team.”
