San Antonio FC Shuts out Tampa Bay Rowdies, 1-0
USL San Antonio FC

San Antonio FC Shuts out Tampa Bay Rowdies, 1-0

Published on July 13, 2025 under United Soccer League Championship (USL)
San Antonio FC News Release


SAN ANTONIO - San Antonio FC soared into the top spot of the Western Conference table with a late goal to defeat Tampa Bay 1-0 Saturday at Toyota Field.

The teams were locked in a scoreless battle for more than 90 minutes before Andres Paredes surged past a pair of defenders and delivered a clean ball in the box for Luke Haakenson to tap in the game-winning goal in the final minute of play.

In his first USL Championship start, goalkeeper Daniel Namani made two saves in the match to lock down his third shutout across all competitions.

Scoring Summary:

SA: Luke Haakenson (Assisted by Andres Paredes) 90+5'

Next Up

San Antonio FC has a week off before returning to USL Jägermeister Cup play, hosting New Mexico United on Saturday, July 26. SAFC sits atop the Group 2 standings heading into the final round of the group stage. Kickoff from Toyota Field is set for 8:00 p.m. CT, and the match will be broadcast on FanDuel Sports Network and ESPN+. The 10th anniversary season is presented by Toyota.

Postgame Notes:

SAFC improves to 8-5-3 on the season, taking over 1st place in the Western Conference standings with 27 points. San Antonio takes control of the all-time series against Tampa Bay with the first win by either side, now leading 1-0-3. Luke Haakenson scored his fourth goal of the season, good for second-most on the team, and his sixth all-time for the club. Haakenson's score was the team's first goal in second-half stoppage time this season. San Antonio has scored in its last 18 USL Championship home games. Midfielder Andres Paredes became the 10th SAFC player to record an assist this year. Goalkeeper Daniel Namani and Defender Shannon Gomez made their first starts in league play this season. Namani kept his third clean sheet against all competitions, making two saves in the match. San Antonio's six clean sheets are tied for second-most in USL Championship. Defender Harvey Neville made his club debut after joining on loan from Phoenix Rising last week, subbing on for the final 18 minutes of play.

Attendance: 5,969

SAFC Starting XI: Daniel Namani, Alex Crognale, Mitchell Taintor (Captain), Rece Buckmaster, Shannon Gomez (Harvey Neville 73'), Almir Soto, Nicky Hernandez (Alex Greive 79'), Lucio Berron, Luke Haakenson, Andres Paredes, Juan Agudelo (Jake LaCava 73')

Substitutions Not Used: Joey Batrouni, Dmitrii Erofeev, Dyllan Mendoza, Abdi Salim, Alexis Souahy, Landry Walker

Disciplinary Summary:

TB: Yellow Card (Forrest Lasso) 29'

SA: Yellow Card (Lucio Berron) 43'

TB: Yellow Card (Laurence Wyke) 51'

TB: Second Yellow Card (Forrest Lasso) 68'

TB: Yellow Card (Aaron Guillen) 83'

Quotes:

Head Coach Carlos Llamosa

(On the win...)

"First of all, I'm happy that at the end of the day, we got the win. That was a big win tonight. As I said on Thursday, we need to validate that game in El Paso by winning at home, and we fought for 90-plus minutes. We never gave up, and we got the goal at the last minute basically, so really happy for that, to get the three points ... Obviously mentally going to the break with a win helps a lot because that gives you those four days to really relax, get away from soccer, and then come back, reenergized to continue working and compete in the second part of the season."

(On what impressed him about his team...)

"They never give up. At a point, we looked like we were going for a scoreless game, but they kept fighting. You know, they say one more minute, they're going to have one more minute, and they continue running, playing, pressing, and we got the goal, so that impressed me about my team.

(On staying focused while playing up a man...)

"I think we did well. We have to give credit today to Tampa as well. They went to play 4-4-1 and be more conservative at the back. I think we created a couple of chances at the end, and when you go a man up, the most important thing is not to get desperate, keep calm, continue moving the ball side to side. Make sure we move those guys apart to find the right moment to go through, and I think we did it really well in that part.

Midfielder Luke Haakenson

(On the win streak...)

"I've said it all year. Especially in American soccer, where you have a playoff format, it's all about hitting at the right time, because you don't want to peak early. You don't want to be hitting your stride too early, because it's a long, long year, and then you have a playoff format at the end. In other leagues around the world, it's about staying consistent and staying in that top spot to win the title, so for us, I've said it before, we don't want to be at our best in March and April. We want to be at our best in November, and I think the last four games, I think we're consistently taking steps towards being that team that we want to be in November."

(On the game-winning goal...)

"All the attackers, if you look at us in training, we are constantly working together after training, learning each other's tendencies, and I know there's a lot of attention on Andres [Paredes] a lot of the game, just because he's extremely fast and he can create a lot of chances, which - credit to him - because that frees me up in a lot of time and space just to tap it in, so that's kind of what was going through my mind. If I'm watching Andres, I know that the attention is there, which means that there's not a lot on me, so I just got to follow the play."

(On remaining composed at the end of the match...)

"I would love to say that we're composed. The reality is, when you don't have a lot of time left, and you're a man up, you know that there's points up for grabs, and you almost don't want to be composed, because you want to give that extra effort and push your body when you're really tired, and there's 60 seconds left, so I would say it was a little chaotic in the last three minutes, and it was end to end, but I actually think it played into our favor, because we had the extra legs to push."

Defender Shannon Gomez

(On the win...)

"We're definitely excited to be on top of the table. I'm proud of the guys for sticking it through to the end, and being able to get a result at home is very important for us. As we said, home is our fortress, and we want to continue defending our home field and picking up points, and it was very important going into the break to get three points tonight."

(On playing at home in front of the fans...)

"Well, I think it's a blessing to do what we do and to be able to be loved by a fan base like this is amazing, but continuing to put in the work, I never take it for granted. To whom much is given, much is expected, so just gracing the field again, what I feel is special for me always. I think every player out there you can see is happy to play in front of a beautiful crowd. San Antonio, especially with what's going on close to us, our neighbors in Kerrville as well too, it's a fighting city, and we want to continue putting on for our fans, so being on the field is beautiful, and being able to fight for a city that fights for everything is important to me, so I'm excited to play at home in front of the home fans and looking forward to many more, but it's just a start, and I'm happy to continue doing that."

(On what the team showed in the performance...)

"Character, grinding it out, trying to pick up wins however we can scrape, fight, whatever it might be. If they're down 10 men or we're down to 10 men, it doesn't matter. Three points at end of the day is what counts and what puts you on top of the table, so I'd say building character as a team, being savvy, being able to pick up points so when we come back from the break, teams are like, 'I don't really want to face SAFC', because it's a team who finds ways to win, and I think building character now is what we're building an identity of, and we're only getting stronger, so just proud of the boys for continuing and carrying on that mentality."

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United Soccer League Championship Stories from July 13, 2025


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