Monterey Bay Falls, 2-1, to El Paso Locomotive FC in Seaside

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USL Monterey Bay FC

Monterey Bay Falls, 2-1, to El Paso Locomotive FC in Seaside

June 22, 2025 - United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Monterey Bay FC News Release


SEASIDE, California - Monterey Bay FC (5-6-4, 19 points) fell 2-1 to Western Conference side El Paso Locomotive FC (6-3-5, 23 points) at Cardinale Stadium. Luke Ivanovic scored his second goal of the season to pull the Crisp-and-Kelp closer for the final 30 minutes, but El Paso held on to secure all three points on the night.

Monterey Bay started the match with a lively energy right out of the gates. On the front foot straight away, Ilijah Paul drove down the pitch and into the box on the left side before playing it across to Anton Søjberg in the middle, but his first-touch curling effort was caught by the goalkeeper. Then in the 15th minute, El Paso's Wahab Ackwei scored with a header to give the visitors a 1-0 lead against the run of play. Climbing back into the match, Ivanovic intercepted a half at the halfway line that sparked a counter for the hosts, but his pass into Paul was picked out by a defender. Wes Fonguck immediately intercepted the next pass for El Paso, leading to a shot from the top of the box by Xavi Gnaulati, but his shot was blocked. The ball fell to Mayele Malango, who then took a crack at goal of his own, but it was mishit and the goalkeeper calmly scooped it up. Monterey Bay earned a free kick in first half stoppage time. With the final kick of the half, Gnaulati whipped a great ball into the box that connected with Alex Lara, but his header missed over the crossbar and the half ended 1-0 in favor of Locomotive FC.

The hosts looked to start the second quickly with Malango earning a corner less than a minute in. The corner was taken short by Gnaulati to Søjberg, whose ball into the box nearly found its way directly past the keeper and into the next, but it was pushed up and off the crossbar. Malango followed up with multiple additional runs into the box on the same side, looking more and more dangerous each time, but El Paso managed to thwart each and every opportunity with numbers inside the box. Against the run of play once again, El Paso was awarded a penalty in the 56th minute, and Andy Cabrera converted to stretch the visitors' lead to 2-0. Slicing through two defenders on the left side at the hour mark, Malango cut to his right to leave a third oncoming defender in the dust. In space inside the box, Malango fired a shot on goal that was stopped by the goalkeeper but spilled, and Ivanovic was there to tap it in - cutting El Paso's lead in half with 30 minutes to play.

Monterey Bay earned a free kick in the 76th minute on the left side of the box, extended. Second-half substitute Diego Gutiérrez floated the ball dangerously into the mix, but the volley attempt by Adam Larsson on the second ball missed high and wide. In the 83rd minute, El Paso's Cabrera drove through the defense inside the box before firing off a shot that beat Nico Campuzano, but Grant Robinson was there to clear it off the line. He immediately played the ball long to Malango, but El Paso's Alvaro Quezada pulled him down to draw a yellow and stop a promising Monterey Bay FC attack. In the 90th minute, Frank Lopez received the ball inside the six-yard box and made a move to get around Campuzano, but the ensuing shot was saved off the line by Monterey Bay once again, this time by Alex Lara to keep Monterey Bay's hopes alive. In the dying moments of the match, Larsson looked to dribble around the goalkeeper to create space for a shot inside the box, but the keeper managed to stop the shot and the match ended 2-1 in favor of Locomotive FC.

Up Next

Monterey Bay FC returns to Jägermeister Cup action with a road trip to the Oakland Coliseum for a fixture with Oakland Roots SC on Saturday, June 28. Kickoff is set for 7:00 p.m. PT, with live streaming available on ESPN+.

Additional Notes

Mobi Fehr was honored pregame for eclipsing 100 appearances for Monterey Bay FC in all competitions since his arrival to the club in its inaugural season in 2022.

Information

Date: June 21, 2025

Venue: Cardinale Stadium; Seaside, California

Weather: Clear and 59°F

Attendance: 3,257

Scoring Summary: 1 2 F

Monterey Bay FC 0 1 1

Locomotive FC 1 1 2

ELP: Wahab Ackwei (Gabriel Torres) 15'

ELP: Andy Cabrera (penalty) 56'

MB: Luke Ivanovic 60'

Lineups

Monterey Bay FC (4-3-3): Nico Campuzano; Grant Robinson, Alex Lara, Nico Gordon, Joel Garcia Jr.; Wesley Fonguck, Xavi Gnaulati (Adam Larsson, 63'), Anton Søjberg (Mobi Fehr, 85'); Mayele Malango, Luke Ivanovic (Diego Gutiérrez, 63'), Ilijah Paul

Subs not used: Sam Gomez, Jacob Muir, Sami Guediri, Pierce Gallaway

El Paso Locomotive FC (3-4-3): Sebastian Mora-Mora; Wahab Ackwei, Alvaro Quezada (Guillermo Diaz,, 86'), Arturo Ortiz (Tony Alfaro, 45+2'); Eric Calvillo, Frank Daroma (Ricky Ruiz, 86'), Gabriel Torres, Robert Coronado; Amando Moreno (Bryan Romero, 86'), Andy Cabrera, Roberto Avila (Frank Lopez, 69')

Subs not used: Marco Canales, Tumi Moshobane

Stats Summary: MB / ELP

Shots: 12 / 11

Shots on Goal: 6 / 4

Saves: 0 / 5

Corner Kicks: 6 / 2

Fouls: 23 / 15

Possession: 45.8% / 54.2%

Misconduct Summary

ELP: Arturo Ortiz (caution) 16'

ELP: Alvaro Quezada (caution) 84'

ELP: Sebastian Mora-Mora (caution) 88'

MB: Diego Gutiérrez (caution) 90+6'

Officials

Referee: Rodrigo Albuquerque

Assistant Referee: Seth Barton

Assistant Referee: Darren Bandy

Fourth Official: Bhavik Dutt

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