Offense looks to snap two-game drought
A week after a scoreless draw at home, San Antonio FC is back on the road this weekend to visit Hartford Athletic.
And it hopes to break two streaks of dubious nature when the two teams meet on the pitch Saturday.
San Antonio has gone two straight games without scoring a goal. SAFC also has yet to win on the road this season tying 2-2 at Tampa Bay in March and losing 1-0 at Las Vegas on April 6. Hartford is 2-0 at home in league play, beating Miami this month and Birmingham last month.
“The guys are ready. We have the tools to succeed. We just need to execute the game plan,” San Antonio forward Machop Chol said. “As a group, we need that ball to get over the (goal) line and once it does it will raise the level of confidence.”
Hartford and San Antonio are tied in the USL standings with nine points each this season. However, the Athletic have played
only four games this season going 3-1-0. San Antonio (2-1-3) has earned its nine points in six games with a record.
Hartford hasn’t played a USL Championship game since April 6 when they beat Miami FC 3-2. The Athletic played in the third round of the Lamar Hunt
U.S. Open Cup on Wednesday night and lost 3-2 in extra time to New York City FC II.
San Antonio earned a bye to the fourth round of the Open Cup this season as one of the top eight teams in the USL Championship last season. SAFC will play at fellow USL
Championship club Indy Eleven on May 7 or 8.
“We are excited to be in that tournament,” San Antonio coach Alen Marcina said. “It’s the oldest competition in this country and the most prestigious.”
This will only be the second all-time game between San Antonio and
Hartford. Last season San Antonio beat Hartford 5-2 at Toyota Field thanks to a club-record four goals from loanee Tani Oluwaseyi.
“Hartford is a talented team, and their front line is great,” San Antonio midfielder Luke Haakenson said. “The focus is always on what we do. If we can impose our game on them hopefully, we can come out with a result.”
San Antonio is making its first trip to Hartford with both teams looking largely different from the squads that met at Toyota Field last year. Both San Antonio and Hartford only have four players still on the roster who were in the lineup either as starters or subs for the game at Toyota Field last July.
“We understand Hartford is a very good team,” Marcina said. “Their front four is some of the best in the league. We will have our hands full with their front four. If we can move the ball well like we did against OC and get into spaces, we feel good about our chances.”
Hartford’s roster includes two former San Antonians
on their roster in midfielder Marcus Epps and forward Deshane Beckford. Epps played for San Antonio FC in 2021 and led the club in games started, games played, and minutes played. Epps also scored six goals in his lone season as a member of SAFC. Beckford played for San Antonio in 2022, appearing in 14 games and scoring a goal. Both Epps and Beckford joined Hartford before this season, Epps played for Tulsa FC and Beckford played for Colorado Springs Switchbacks in 2023.
“It’s always good to see familiar faces but that doesn’t change any of our approach or mindset,” Marcina said. “We’ve worked hard during the week, done our due diligence, been relentless in our preparation, and now it’s about going there and executing the game plan.”