FULL STEAM AHEAD
EL PASO, TEXAS – June 6, 2026 – El Paso Locomotive FC hit the road on Saturday, June 6, for a third-round Prinx Tires USL Cup showdown against Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC. Locomotive will look to remain perfect in cup play and improve to 3-0-0 in the competition. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.
WATCH: ESPN+
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FULL STEAM AHEAD
El Paso Locomotive FC is on the road on Saturday, June 6, to take on Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC in the third round of the Prinx Tires USL Cup. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. MT at Weidner Field and can be streamed on ESPN+.
BY THE NUMBERS (Prinx Tires USL Cup)
Record: 2-0-0
Goals: 4 scored, 1 conceded (+3 GD)
Shots: 36 total, 12 on target (33.3%)
Clean Sheets: 1
Fouls: 19 drawn, 32 committed
Discipline: 4 yellow cards, 0 red cards
LAST TIME OUT
Prinx Tires USL Cup
El Paso Locomotive FC improved to 2-0 in the Prinx Tires USL Cup after defeating AV Alta FC 2-0 their last time out. Noah Dollenmayer scored the opening goal in the 72nd minute, just his second with El Paso and his first at home. Diego Abitia scored Locomotive’s second goal less than 10 minutes later, after a perfect pass put him one-on-one with the goalkeeper.
USL Championship Regular Season
Locomotive fell 4-1 to Lexington SC at home on Saturday, dropping to 4-4-2 in regular-season play. Lexington opened the scoring in the ninth minute on an own goal from Alvaro Quezada, before El Paso was reduced to 10 men after Diego Abitia was shown a straight red. Marcus Epps gave Lexington the 2-0 lead just before the halftime break. Locomotive was shown its second straight red in the 62nd minute, going down to nine men on the field. Lexington went on to score two more goals to take a 4-0 lead, but El Paso got one back in the final minutes on a penalty scored by Rubio Rubín.
LAST TIME OUT VS COLORADO SPRINGS
El Paso opened the season at home against the Switchbacks on March 7th. The match ended in a 2-2 draw with Locomotive falling behind early, but two goals from Rubio Rubín gave them the lead in the 51st minute. However, in the 67th minute, Colorado Springs tied things up.
ALL-TIME SERIES VS COLORADO SPRINGS
El Paso Locomotive FC owns a 7-4-10 all-time record against Colorado Springs and has been particularly resilient on the road, suffering just one defeat away from home in the series. After opening the matchup history with a 4-0-1 record in the first five meetings, Locomotive is winless in its last five matches against the Switchbacks, posting a 0-1-4 mark during that stretch.
ATTACKING PRESSURE
El Paso Locomotive FC enters Saturday’s match with the top attack in the USL Championship, scoring 21 goals through 10 games to lead the league. El Paso also holds the top spot when it comes to shot conversion rate, finding the back of the net on 22 percent of their shots on target.
GOLDEN BOOT RACE
Rubio Rubín enters the weekend tied atop the USL Championship Golden Boot race with eight goals in 10 regular-season appearances. Rubín has found the back of the net against Colorado Springs (2), Monterey Bay, Las Vegas, San Antonio, New Mexico, Oakland, and Lexington this season.
UNLIKELY CONTRIBUTERS
Through two Prinx Tires USL Cup matches, El Paso has scored four goals, with three coming from players not typically known for their scoring output. Tony Alfaro and Robert Coronado accounted for both goals in Locomotive’s 2-1 victory over Orange County SC, while Noah Dollenmayer and Diego Abitia provided the goals in the 2-0 win over AV Alta FC.
CLINCHING SCENARIO
Locomotive can secure first place in Group 2 of the Prinx Tires USL Cup on Saturday with a regulation victory over Colorado Springs. El Paso would also need Phoenix Rising FC and New Mexico United to finish level and advance to a penalty shootout.
FOUL TROUBLE
El Paso Locomotive has found themselves down players in three of its last five games after being shown straight red cards. Locomotive was reduced to 10 men against FC Tulsa and Oakland Roots SC, and to nine against Lexington SC.
WORLD CUP
Carl Sainté made league history after earning a spot on Haiti’s 2026 FIFA World Cup roster, becoming one of four players from an active USL roster to receive a World Cup call-up. Haiti will compete in the World Cup for the first time since 1974, with matches against Scotland, Brazil, and Morocco.
NOTABLE QUOTES:
HC Junior Gonzalez on the upcoming road trip:
“We’re .500 in league. We’re two wins in the Prinx Cup. We’re in a good position to play against Colorado that also have two wins, so it’ll be a good test for us.
Our goal is to take it game by game. We’re focused on the analysis of that opponent. We’ve got Colorado first, and then we go on the road to Detroit. We have a couple days there to train in Colorado.
Regrouping, taking a couple days off from Saturday. Focusing on what the next task at hand is. If we just approach it that way, game by game, and task by task. It’s easier to improve performances.”
HC Junior Gonzalez on moving on from Saturday’s game:
“That’s just personal character. There are two ways to look at it. You can feel sorry for yourselves today, from a Saturday result, or you can be inspired to work harder and focus on getting a result against Colorado.
I would say all of our guys are past Saturday’s situation. They’ve had some good heart-to-hearts. Some guys stepping up in front of the team and apologizing for what transpired. Anytime you have a group of guys that are taking ownership for any type of mistakes for things that happen in the game, anytime you have a group that are talking internally about wokring harder, focusing on the next result, coming closer together.
Today’s session was good, very intense. The guys were hungry to play. We talked about a few things to improve. I’ve already seen them trying to implement it in training. So from a coaching perspective, no time to panic, just focus on the daily routine and what our objectives are. When you work in that manner, good things will happen.”
Midfielder Alex Mendez on what the team is doing to improve its discipline:
“Obviously, the first thing is to recognize the issue. The way I see it is that we’re an aggressive team. I do agree that we have to be more disciplined, but I think it’s just recognize what the issue is. Don’t put it too much on your head and play every game like you would play a normal game. Every play is a new play, so I think just focus on your play and just do the best that you can. Not really think about the red cards that we’ve had or the past results or anything like that. I think it’s just thinking of the next play, the next game, and that’s the way we’re taking it.”
Defender Kofi Twumasi on what’s going to be different the rest of the season when playing the best XI:
“I don’t believe in the best XI. I believe in all our players. We have a lot of quality players here and a lot of experienced players. It doesn’t matter who’s on the field. Whoever is on the field is going to get the job done. To be honest the whole best XI thing, I’m not really into that because all players can do the task and they’re all able to get the job done.”