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USL San Antonio FC

San Antonio FC Draws 3-3 Against Tampa Bay Rowdies

September 16, 2023 - United Soccer League Championship (USL)
San Antonio FC News Release


SAN ANTONIO - San Antonio FC drew the Tampa Bay Rowdies 3-3 tonight thanks to Ignacio Bailone's equalizing goal in the 92nd minute. The draw puts SAFC at 13-5-12 with 51 points on the season, just three points shy of Sacramento for the top spot in the USL Championship Western Conference.

Santiago Patiño opened the scoring in the 21st minute, scoring in a second straight match to make it an early 1-0 lead. The goal was Patiño's fourth of the season, and came by way of Nathan Fogaça's first assist of the season.

Fogaça got back on the scoresheet in the 51st minute, scoring his first goal of the season to make it a 2-0 SAFC lead. Tani Oluwaseyi assisted on the goal, his sixth of the season.

Tampa Bay answered in the 67th minute, scoring to cut San Antonio's lead to 2-1. Then in the 71st minute, the Rowdies converted a penalty to even the score at 2-2. The Rowdies would take the lead in the 81st minute, putting SAFC behind entering stoppage time.

SAFC pulled it back even in the 92nd minute, thanks to Bailone heading in a corner from Juan Carlos Azocar. The goal was Bailone's fifth of the season, and the assist was Azocar's second of the season.

Next Up

San Antonio FC is at home again next week, hosting third-place Orange County SC on Saturday, Sept. 23. Tickets for the match are available at SanAntonioFC.com and on the SAFC app. The match can also be streamed nationally on ESPN+, or locally on Bally Sports Southwest Extra.

Postgame Notes:

San Antonio FC moves to 13-5-12 (51 points) on the season.

The draw puts SAFC three points behind Sacramento Republic for the most in the USL Championship Western Conference.

San Antonio moves to 59-straight matches without a loss when scoring first, including 9-0-4 this season.

Goalkeeper Nick Marsman made his 2023 debut, after joining the team this week on loan from MLS.

Forward Santiago Patiño's goal in the 21st minute was his fourth of the season.

Forward Nathan Fogaça's assist on Patiño's goal was his first of the season.

Fogaça's goal in the 51st minute was his first of the season.

Forward Tani Oluwaseyi assisted on Fogaça's goal, his sixth of the season.

Forward Ignacio Bailone's goal in the 92nd minute was his fifth of the season and first since June 24 at Sacramento.

Midfielder Juan Carlos Azocar's assist on Bailone's goal was his second of the season, and first since May 13 at Charleston Battery.

Attendance: 7,141

Quotes:

Head Coach Alen Marcina

(On the team's performance...)

"In this moment I felt, strongly, that we dominated that game. We should've put them away. The amount of opportunities, clear-cut opportunities, we created - I get it, we scored three goals, but we should've put them away. We should've never allowed them to have the opportunity to get back into it. Two individual errors hurt us, so disappointed in that. Yes, proud that the guys were resilient and we get a draw, but we should've comfortably had three points tonight."

(On the result...)

"Tampa's an excellent team - Tampa's one of the best team's in the league this year and historically over the last four or five years and we dominated them. We dominated a super strong team. Disappointed we didn't get the three points, but again a lot of good things once we clear up these individual errors."

(On what the team needs to do to earn a result next week...)

"I say it all the time, but it's focus in critical moments. Task execution. We train that every single day. So players got to step up, in those key moments, both ends of the ball. Again we dominated one of the best teams in the league. So a lot of positives to take from tonight, again disappointed to not earn the three points, but we did dominate."

Defender Connor Maloney

(On the draw...)

"Soccer's an interesting game - you saw tonight, it was a really good team that we played in Tampa, so we've got to give them credit. We're up 2-0, they tie it, go up a goal, then we come back and we tie it. So, soccer's crazy, but I'm proud of the boys when we went down a goal, to get a third goal and tie it up. Nacho [Ignacio Bailone] came in the game and proved his worth, and got us a goal to get the point. So that's a positive, that we went down a goal and we came back and tied a very good team in Tampa. So that's a positive from us for sure."

(On the trend of individual errors...)

"The guys in the locker room, we are very confident in one another. Yeah, individual mistakes happen, for sure. And they did tonight, and we got punished by a really good team in Tampa. So cleaning up those mistakes is going to be key for our playoff run. As we move into playoffs, those moments are what are gonna win us or lose us games. So we've got to clean those up, the rest of these games in the regular season, and then we go into the playoffs hopefully not making those mistakes. And I think the guys in the locker room are confident that we can do that, and I think the coaching staff does too. So cleaning up those individual mistakes, and collective mistakes, it'll help us in the long run, and we'll learn from these things and hopefully in playoffs that doesn't happen."

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