A goal by Rio Grande Valley FC in the 90th minute meant another heartbreaking draw for El Paso Locomotive FC on Saturday. The draw was the third in as many matches for the club in its inaugural season, hoping to gift the elusive victory to the near sell-out home crowd.
El Paso had taken to the field playing strong, leading with 62.1% possession against their regional rivals from Rio Grande Valley in the first half. Midfielder Nick Ross opened the score board in stoppage time in the first half, with a powerful strike flying by two defenders on its way to the back of the net.
Rio Grande Valley FC returned from halftime hungry for an equalizer. El Paso instead scored another to increase their lead. Ross was key once again, on a drive to goal passing the ball to Derek Gebhard who tapped it in to score in the 77th minute. RGVFC quickly countered in the 78th minute with a rocket to the high right corner of the net by Romilio Hernandez to cut the lead in half.
“When we scored the second goal, we should have won,” a disappointed Ross said, speaking to the press after the match. “It doesn’t matter who we’re playing against. It’s a difficult one to take. We thought we were there – first win at home, first win in franchise history – we look forward to the next game and hopefully we can make it right.”
Possession flipped once RGVFC scored their first of the season for their club. The Toros drew fouls that resulted in several free kicks, the last of which scored them the equalizer just before the final whistle blew.
“We were sitting in, trying to defend and they just kept coming at us, getting free kicks outside the box,” Gebhard said. “It’s not just defense, it’s the whole 11 out there. We all defend as a team… we’ll have to go back and look at the video and see what mistakes we made and go from there.”
Saturday’s match was the kickoff to the Copa Tejas, a Texas Derby crafted by supporter groups of the four Texas USL Championship clubs of Austin, El Paso, Rio Grande Valley, and San Antonio.
“We should be on nine points right now, that’s the bottom line,” EL Paso head coach Mark Lowry added. “After having played three games and I believe in each we were the better team. In every game you play, if the team is winning in the last five minutes, they’re always under pressure. It’s the same in every league in every country, you just have to try and hold on to those moments, and unfortunately for us we just couldn’t hold on today. “
After a frustrating result Saturday, El Paso will regroup on Monday to begin preparation for the match facing Orange County SC next weekend.
