Locomotive FC victorious over Colorado Springs, 3-1; Locos win third straight

(Courtesy: El Paso Locomotive FC)

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado - El Paso Locomotive FC (West-2, 5-3-1, 16 points) continued its impressive undefeated streak on Friday night with an entertaining 2-3 win at Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC. 

With this redemption of an early season loss to the Switchbacks, Locomotive now jumps into second place in the Western Conference standings and remains unbeaten at Weidner Field. 

Locomotive put on a tremendous display in the first half to take early control of the match. 

Forward Luis “Lucho” Solignac opened the scoring, tapping in a pass from midfielder Petar Petrovic who managed to shake off the defense with a beautiful display of skill. 

Petrovic would bag a goal of his own three minutes later to double Locomotive’s lead and secure a 2-0 scoreline heading into halftime.  

Colorado Springs wasn’t without chances of their own but Locomotive’s backline was able to keep out many of the opportunities the Switchbacks had, including a magnificent fingertip save seven minutes into the second half from goalkeeper Benny Diaz.  

Switchbacks would breakthrough in the 61’, but Locomotive forward Emmanuel Sonupe would give back to Locomotive a two-goal lead, beautifully spinning around defenders in the box to record his first goal of the season.  

El Paso would concede a penalty goal in the 88’ but were able to hold on to the lead to bring home yet another three points, its fifth win in the last six games.  

FORECAST: 66ºF, clear skies 

TEAM NOTES  

• El Paso are now undefeated in six league matches (5W, 1 D) and jumped into second place in the Western Conference, just two points behind league leaders Sacramento Republic FC.  
• El Paso remains unbeaten at Weidner Field (2W, 5D) and snaps a three-game winless streak against the Switchbacks.  
• Solignac recorded his fifth goal of the season.  
• Petrovic recorded his third goal and first assist of the season.  
• Sonupe recorded his first goal of the season.  
• Defender Eder Borelli assists his first goal of the season.  

SCORING SUMMARY  

• ELP 1 – Luis Solignac (Petar Petrovic) 10’  
• ELP 2 – Petar Petrovic 13’  
• COS 1 – James Ockford (Jairo Henriquez) 61’ 
• ELP 3 – Emmanuel Sonupe (Eder Borelli) 74’  
• COS 2 – Romario Williams, Penalty 88’  

LINEUPS   

ELP – Benny Diaz, Bence Pavkovics, Yuma – C, Eder Borelli, Miles Lyons, Eric Calvillo, Liam Rose, Petar Petrovic (Aaron Gomez), Denys Kostyshyn (Emmanuel Sonupe), Luis Solignac, Ricardo Zacarias (Erik McCue) 

Subs Not Used: Luis Moreno, Nick Hinds, Louis Herrera, Javier Garcia 

COS – Christian Herrera, Duke Lacroix, Patrick Seagrist (Romario Williams), James Musa, Jimmy Ockford, Devon Williams – C, Steven Echevarria (Jay Chapman), Drew Skundrich, Deshane Beckford, Jairo Henriquez (Aaron Wheeler), Maalique Foster  

Subs Not Used: Joe Kuzminsky, Dennis Erdmann, Oskar Agren, Dillon Clarke  

MISCONDUCT SUMMARY  

• ELP – Miles Lyons (Yellow Card) 35’, Eric Calvillo (Yellow Card) 60’  
• COS – James Musa (Yellow Card) 63’, Jairo Henriquez (Yellow Card) 70’, Romario Williams (Yellow Card) 76’  

MATCH STATS: ELP | COS 

GOALS: 3|2  
ASSISTS: 2|1  
POSS. %: 49|51 
SHOTS: 13|18 
SHOTS ON GOAL: 9|5  
SAVES: 3|6  
FOULS: 13|17  
OFFSIDES: 1|0  

CORNERS: 6|8   

UP NEXT: Saturday, May 13 vs Loudoun United FC. Kickoff at 7:30 p.m. MT at Southwest University Park. Locomotive return home for its sole matchup in May, welcoming Loudoun United FC to El Paso for the first time in series history.