USL Monterey Bay FC

Monterey Bay Aims to Defend the 831 against El Paso Locomotive FC on Military Appreciation Night at Cardinale Stadium

July 7, 2023 - United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Monterey Bay FC News Release


SEASIDE, California - Monterey Bay F.C. (7-6-5, 26 points) returns home to Seaside on Saturday for an important 7 p.m. PT kickoff on Military Appreciation Night at Cardinale Stadium against El Paso Locomotive FC (9-4-3, 30 points) in Week 18 of the 2023 USL Championship regular season, presented by the U.S. Army. Saturday's match will be broadcast locally on KION (46 & 23 over the air, 46 Dish, 27 DirecTV and 5/705 HD Xfinity), with live streaming available on Hulu, Paramount+, YouTubeTV, FuboTV, and ESPN+.

The Crisp and Kelp last met El Paso Locomotive FC on August 6 here at Cardinale Stadium. In a tightly-contested match, Adrian Rebollar scored a game-winning goal to break the scoreless deadlock in the 89th minute to secure three points for the MBFC. Head-to-head the series is split at a win apiece, but El Paso Locomotive FC owns the advantage on goal difference (+4). However, El Paso has yet to win in Seaside and the Union will aim to keep it that way.

Monterey Bay's four-match winning streak was snapped over the weekend with losses to Orange County SC and Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC. Now just a match beyond the halfway mark of the campaign and plenty of season left to play, the Union will look to bounce back with a win at home over one of the Western Conference's best sides so far in 2023. El Paso enters the match in second place in the conference after putting together an impressive first half of the season, albeit directly on the heels of a 1-0 loss to New Mexico United a week ago, their first loss since March 18 in Week 2 of the regular season.

"It was a disappointing road trip," said Monterey Bay midfielder Simon Dawkins. "We hoped that we'd get something from both of the games, but we just have to dust ourselves off now and focus on the home games that we have coming up. We need to get six points from the next two to propel us up the table."

"We didn't play to the best of our capabilities, we had our struggles both offensively and defensively," explained Monterey Bay defender Kai Greene. "We made a lot of uncharacteristic mistakes, but that's part of the game sometimes. Coming off our four-game winning streak, we lost two games back-to-back and obviously that's never something we want to do."

He continued, "we see those who support us day in and day out regardless of wins and losses. And those who talk down on us, we see you too - thank you for the motivation. We understand there are always going to be those that criticize us when we're down. But we'll bounce back, and we'll do it for the fans who support us no matter what."

Monterey Bay F.C. vs. El Paso Locomotive FC

Cardinale Stadium; Seaside, California

Saturday, July 8, 2023; 7:00 p.m. PT

FiveThirtyEight Predictor

MBFC 36%, ELP 36%, Draw 28%

2023 Records

Monterey Bay F.C. (7-6-5, 26 pts, 5th West); El Paso Locomotive FC (9-4-3, 30 pts, 2nd West)

Check out the Monterey Bay FC Statistics



United Soccer League Championship Stories from July 7, 2023


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