EL PASO – March 23, 2019 – El Paso Locomotive FC draws against Rio Grande Valley FC in the two clubs first meeting of the 2019 USL Championship season.
El Paso Locomotive came out knocking, having good looks on goal early on in the match. They kept up the pressure and maintained 62.1 percent of the possession in the first half. El Paso took the first lead of the match in the 45th minute. In the waning seconds of the half, Nick Ross sent a screamer through a defender’s legs and curled the ball into the bottom left corner of the goal. The 1-0 lead would send things into halftime.
Locomotive kept the energy high in the second half. Nick Ross wasn’t done adding his name to the stat sheet. In the 77th minute he glanced a ball across the goal, and it found the foot of Derek Gebhard who put it into the empty net. This is now Gebhard’s second goal of the season and his second time being named Estrella of the Match.
Shortly after the Gebhard goal to put Locomotive up two, Rio Grande Valley answered with one of their own. A rocket of a shot by Romilio Hernandez went into the back of the goal in the 78th minute to cut the lead in half. Rio Grande Valley ended up grabbing one more goal in the final minutes of the match to bring score level.
This match kicked off COPA Tejas, the supporter crafted Texas Derby between the four Texas USL Championship clubs; Austin Bold FC, El Paso Locomotive FC, Rio Grande Valley FC, and San Antonio FC.
After getting one point at home forward Derek Gebhard said, “It is all 11 of us out there, we defend as a team. We will go back to look at the video and see what mistakes we made and go from there.”
El Paso Locomotive FC plays their next match at home on Saturday, March 30th against Orange County SC. Season Ticket Memberships, Group Tickets, and Individual Match Tickets can be purchased at https://www.eplocomotivefc.com/ticket or by calling 915-235-GOAL!