SAN ANTONIO (Sept. 5, 2026) – San Antonio FC grinded out a tough point against one of its top foes in the Western Conference with a 0-0 draw against FC Tulsa on Saturday at Toyota Field.
The teams entered the night tied on points in the standings, facing each other for the fourth time across all competitions.
San Antonio controlled nearly two-thirds of possession in the match, dominating the offensive side with 19 shots, five shots on target, and eight corner kicks.
On the other end, SAFC posted its seventh clean sheet of the season, as the defense held the Scissortails without a shot on target for the night.
Next Up
San Antonio FC hosts Louisville City FC in the Prinx Tires USL Cup Semifinals this Tuesday, Sept. 8. Kickoff from Toyota Field is set for 7:30 p.m. CT, and the match will be broadcast on ESPN+. The 2026 season is presented by Toyota.
Postgame Notes:
- San Antonio moves to 9-5-9 on the season with 36 points, remaining in fifth place in the Western Conference standings.
- San Antonio FC picked up its seventh clean sheet of the season, tied for third-most in the Western Conference.
- SAFC outshot the Scissortails 19-5, also leading in shots on target 5-0.
- Defender Alex Crognale recorded six shots, tied for the most in a single match by an SAFC player this season.
- The team tied a season-high with nine corner kicks.
- Head Coach Carlos Llamosa made just one change from the starting XI that faced New Mexico, with forward Christian Sorto entering the lineup.
- SAFC ends the season series with Tulsa even at 1-1-2 across all competitions.
Attendance: 5,160
SAFC Starting XI: Joey Batrouni, Emil Cuello, Alex Crognale, Mitchell Taintor (Captain), Tiago Suarez Akeem O’Connor-Ward, Mikey Maldonado, Nicky Hernandez (Lucio Berron 78’), Jorge Hernandez (Santiago Patiño (90+9’), Cristian Parano (Luke Haakenson 78’), Christian Sorto (Lilian Ricol 72’)
Substitutions Not Used: Danny Barbir, Nelson Flores Blanco, Brian Guevara, Daniel Namani, Leo Urrutia
Disciplinary Summary:
TUL: Yellow Card (Jeorgio Kocevski) 29’
TUL: Yellow Card (Ian) 45+1’
TUL: Yellow Card (Abdoulaye Cissoko) 52’
SA: Yellow Card (Christian Sorto) 57’
TUL: Yellow Card (Jamie Webber) 89’
TUL: Yellow Card (Stefan Lukic) 90’
TUL: Yellow Card (Arquímides Ordóñez) 90’
Quotes:
Head Coach Carlos Llamosa
(On the performance…)
“The good thing now is this is the second game in a row that we put on a good performance. Last week in New Mexico, we give up the possession a little bit, but we defended well, and in the counterattack, we were good. We created a lot of chances in New Mexico. Today also, we created chances, so we’re in a good stage right now. As I said, we have a lot of guys who, at any given moment, can score goals. A month ago, [Cristian] Parano scored six goals in four games, so I have lots of confidence in him and Jorge [Hernandez]. Late in this game, we tried Lilian Ricol, and he looks pretty good, too, so I think he’s going to help us a lot up front as well.”
(On combatting Tulsa’s physicality…)
“I thought the way the guys managed the game was good because in the past, this year in the Open Cup game, they were a very direct team. They played a lot of long balls, and at some point, they forced us to play their game, and we entered in that kind of game, which is not us, but today we played our game. We set the condition of the game, and that was something I liked from the team. We were mature passing the ball. Even those guys were pressing a lot, we were able to connect passes. I liked how a couple times, our center backs connected with our number 10s on the package.”
(On the team’s fight for a playoff spot…)
“Well, anything can happen. The only thing we have ahead of us right now is Colorado Springs. They won yesterday. I believe they’re two points away from us, behind us, so as I said, every game is going to be a derby. We got to go to Colorado early this year. We went there, we beat them, but it’s a different game. Every game is a final, and a win puts us right there in probably third or second place. A loss can send us to seventh or eighth place, so we are aware of that every single match. The table is so tight right now, so every game, it doesn’t matter where we play, we gotta go full out. As we went to New Mexico, we knew that was a crucial game for us after losing two home matches, and the guys pulled it off. They were there and fought for 90 minutes, and we got the three points, so we are right now in that tone. Every game, every team that we play away, we got to go there for the three points.”
Defender Mitchell Taintor
(On the clean sheet…)
“I think we’ve been playing well defensively over the last month, and we haven’t been conceding a bunch of goals. We have been conceding the one goal, and it is obviously quite frustrating when that happens, but before the game, me, Tiago [Suarez] and [Alex Crognale], one of our goals, we just said, ‘Hey, we gotta get a clean sheet tonight, so I’m really proud of honestly the whole collective effort from front to back and limiting their chances. At the beginning of the year, the first four games, I think we allowed like maybe a handful of shots, and I think we went back to that tonight, so it was good. It was positive all over, except for not getting the goal.”
(On using the match as momentum for the USL Cup semifinal…)
“For sure, I think one of the big things for us was getting that win in New Mexico. That was a really good character-building win, especially coming off two pretty disappointing losses at home and especially with the history that we have with New Mexico, going into their place and getting three points at the way that we did. It wasn’t the prettiest game. It’s different playing on their field, so I think it was really good for our mentality and character-building as a team last week, and we knew it was going to be the same sort of fight on our field now, but we had to keep that same mentality and then just have fun on our field and make the most of it, and I think we did that today. We just didn’t get the goal, so we just have to keep that mentality going into this game on Tuesday and play our game. It’s our house, and yeah, we’ve gotta win on Tuesday.”
Midfielder Mikey Maldonado
(On the shutout…)
“The back line had a great time today. Tiago [Suarez], of course, was man of the match today. I give him props a lot because this was a game that he stood out, but I mean, that’s something it does all year, so I think him with the veterans that we have back there, we have a great line, especially with Joey [Batrouni] back there, but I think we got to reward our back line and get a goal. We want a clean sheet for us, but overall, as a collective group, we all want to win, so the best thing is not let them score.”
