El Paso Locomotive FC Pick Up Massive Three Points in Lexington
LEXINGTON, Kentucky (KVIA) -- Two first-half goals were the difference for El Paso Locomotive FC who held on for an important 2-1 victory over Lexington SC on Saturday night at Lexington SC Stadium as the postseason comes into clearer vision.
Memo Diaz picked up his second goal of the year just nine minutes in before Frank Daroma connected with Beto Avila who snapped his scoring drought and tallied his fourth goal of the regular season.
Locomotive wasted no time offensively as Diaz headed home an early corner to put Los Locos on top just nine minutes in. Despite the hosts controlling more possession, El Paso created more chances including Avila’s finish in the 31st minute which doubled their lead before the break.
Lexington came out hot to start the second half and pulled one back in the 55th minute. Locomotive had to hold on through 15 minutes of stoppage time, but a vital goal-line clearance from Kofi Twumasi and huge save from Sebastian Mora-Mora earned the visitors all three points in a tight Western Conference.
GAME NOTES
- Memo Diaz scored his second career goal for Locomotive.
- Beto Avila recorded his eighth goal across all competitions this season to go with six assists.
- Frank Daroma chipped in his fourth assist in league play this year moving him into a tie for second for Locomotive.
- Sebastian Mora-Mora recorded six saves, his most in a Locomotive uniform.
- Locomotive improved to 8-0-2 when leading at halftime in the regular season.
- With two goals tonight, Locomotive set their single season club scoring record across all competitions with 59 goals (57-2022).
FORECAST: 64ºF, clear
SCORING SUMMARY
- ELP – Memo Diaz 9’, Beto Avila 31’ (Frank Daroma)
- LEX – Cory Burke 55’ (Blaine Ferri)
LINEUPS
ELP – (3-4-3) Sebastian Mora-Mora, Robert Coronado, Tony Alfaro, Kofi Twumasi, Ricky Ruiz, Eric Calvillo-C, Frank Daroma, Memo Diaz (Wahab Ackwei 87’), Gabi Torres (Emiliano Rodriguez 90’+10’), Beto Avila (Christian Sorto 80’), Amando Moreno (Bryan Romero 90’+10’)
Subs Not Used: Marco Canales, Joseluis Villagomez, Omar Mora
LEX – (4-2-3-1) Brooks Thompson, Jacob Greene, Kendall Burks, Gaël Gibert (Latif Blessing 46’), Joe Hafferty, Blaine Ferri, Speedy Williams (Forster Ajago 64’, Marcus Epps, Braudílio Rodrigues (Alfredo Midence 46’), Nick Firmino, Cory Burke
Subs Not Used: Xavier Zengue, Daniel Wu, Edrey Cáceres, Malik Henry-Scott
MISCONDUCT SUMMARY
- ELP – Beto Avila (Yellow) 73’, Frank Daroma (Yellow) 75’
- LEX – Gaël Gibert (Yellow) 6’, Speedy Williams (Yellow) 29’, Marcus Epps (Yellow) 48’, Joe Hafferty (Yellow) 61’
MATCH STATS: ELP | LEX
GOALS: 2|1
ASSISTS: 1|1
POSSESSION: 45|55
SHOTS: 6|18
SHOTS ON GOAL: 4|9
SAVES: 6|2
FOULS: 9|20
OFFSIDES: 2|3
CORNERS: 4|7
UP NEXT: El Paso Locomotive FC return to Southwest University Park for their final home match of the regular season against first-place FC Tulsa at 7 p.m. MT. The match will be streamed on ESPN+, KVIA.com and the KVIA News App.
