El Paso Locomotive (7-1-3, 24 points) claimed a 1-0 clean sheet over Las Vegas Lights FC at home on Saturday. Forward Aaron Gomez scored the lone goal to extend his club-leading goal count while Goalkeeper Ben Beaury recorded two saves to earn his first professional shutout. The win extends the home undefeated streak to over a year unbeaten at Southwest University Park.
“In many ways [tonight was] very good, and in many ways not so good,” shared Head Coach Mark Lowry. “It’s been a challenging week for everybody. A couple of injuries picked up, a few guys were unavailable, so we saw some changes in the lineup. All in all, an okay performance. Not a complete one, not a great one, but after the week we had, the three points in a really important moment of the season going into a tough stretch of 5 games in 16 or 17 days, that three points tonight set us up well for that.”
The Boys in Blue dominated the opening minutes of the game, setting the pace and tempo of the early stages. Key defensive stops from Defenders Yuma and Mechack Jerome gave way to early chances towards goal from Midfielder Sebastian Velasquez, Midfielder Chapa Herrera, and Forward Lucho Soliganc. While Lights twisted the game towards their favor towards the end of the first 45 minutes, the game stayed level on a scoreless draw in the half.
The Lights put up the pressure in the second half, however, Locomotive continued to rise with answers to stop the Las Vegas attack. Leaving Lights with only one shot on target through the first 75 minutes, which Beaury dove deep to get the save. The Locos pressure came back as the second half progressed opening up for an expert cross from Defender Eder Borelli to find Gomez at the far post, who converted the textbook header for the opening goal. Locomotive held fast for the remainder of the match, keeping Lights off the grid, and ultimately securing three points at Southwest University Park on a 1-0 win.
UP NEXT: El Paso Locomotive heads to Albuquerque, New Mexico for its first match against New Mexico United at Isotopes Park since 2019. Kickoff is scheduled for Saturday, July 24 at 7:30 p.m. MT. The match will be broadcast live digitally on ESPN+.
GOAL SCORING RUNDOWN
ELP: Aaron Gomez (Eder Borelli), 58th minute: Taking up a poor clearance from the Vegas backline, Borelli wasted little time sending in the deep cross to the far post where Aaron Gomez stood waiting to make the leap and put away a beautiful header.
NOTES:
– Forward Aaron Gomez added to his club leading goal count in the 58th minute, extending his Locomotive regular-season goal count to 14 across the three seasons.
– Goalkeeper Ben Beaury makes his first appearance on the Starting XI since his signing on May 20, earning his first professional clean sheet.
– Locomotive picks up a critical three points at home that guarantees the team a year undefeated at Southwest University Park while holding on tied to Rio Grande Valley FC on points for the top seed of Mountain Division.
Match: El Paso Locomotive vs Las Vegas Lights FC
Date: July 17, 2021
Venue: Southwest University Park; El Paso, Texas
Weather: 87F and mostly cloudy
Scoring Summary 1 2 F
El Paso Locomotive FC 0 1 1
Las Vegas Lights 0 0 0
ELP – Aaron Gomez (Eder Borelli), 58’
Lineups:
El Paso Locomotive FC (4-4-2): Ben Beaury; Eder Borelli, Yuma, Mechack Jerome, Ricardo Zacarias (Matt Bahner, 64’), Richie Ryan, Chapa Herrera, Leandro Carrijo, 64’), Nick Ross, Diego Luna, Lucho Solignac (Bryam Rebellon, 82’), Sebastian Velasquez (Aaron Gomez, 31’)
Subs not used: Logan Ketterer, Jose Aguinaga, Andrew Fox
Las Vegas Lights FC (3-2-3-2): Alex Rando; Chinenye Uche, Julian Gaines (Julian Vázquez, 64’), Mohamed Traore, Mamadou Fall, Antonio Leone, Daniel Crisostomo, Frank Daroma, Erik Duenas (Christian Torres, 45’), Roberto Molina (Christopher Jaime, 78’), Álvaro Quezada
Subs not used: Donovan Palomares, Michael Yeboah, Nathan Sepulveda
Stats Summary: ELP | LV
Shots: 17 | 6
Shots on Goal: 6 | 2
Saves: 2 | 5
Corner Kicks: 2 | 1
Fouls: 13 | 10
Offside: 2 | 4
MISCONDUCT SUMMARY:
ELP – Yuma (Caution), 35’
LV – Frank Daroma (Caution), 79’
ELP – Aaron Gomez (Caution), 89’
ELP – Ben Beaury (Caution), 90’+1