El Paso Locomotive FC (8-2-5, 29 points) held fast to the top of Group C with a scoreless draw against Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC on Wednesday night. The defensive stops marked Logan Ketterer’s sixth clean sheet of the season, while the team extended its undefeated streak to a club-record 10 games.
Mirroring the visit to Weidner Field in late August, Locomotive and Switchbacks played a quiet battle of possession through the first 45 minutes, neither side finding strong opportunities to open the scoring. While Locomotive made its way into in the final third, taking shots to earn back-to-back corner kicks, the Switchbacks backline held strong to stave off the high Locos offensive line. Meanwhile, Switchbacks had a pair of shots through the first half that flew wide of the frame, failing to truly test Ketterer’s keeping ability.
The pendulum continued to swing for both sides throughout the second half as early on, Macca King was able to rifle off a pair of shots that sailed just over the crossbar and played into Switchbacks goalkeeper Sean Melvin’s hands. While Saeed Robinson contributed a shot in the Locomotive attack, Ketterer kept the scoring level with a big catch of a rifled shot by Jordan Burt. Los Locos found control again, as Macca crossed a ball into the box that found Aaron Gómez, who headed back to find Leandro Carrijó to finish the play that ended with a goal-line clearance by the Switchbacks defense. The sixth Locomotive clean sheet in 2020 splits the points in Colorado Springs to maintain control at the top of Group C.
UP NEXT: Locomotive travels once again to close out the 2020 USL Championship Regular season against the current USL Championship title winners, Real Monarchs. The regular-season finale is set for Sunday, October 4 with the afternoon kickoff from Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman, Utah set for 2:00 p.m. MT.
NOTES:
– Locomotive traveled for a game for the first time since August 22, where it played against Switchbacks FC to play for 0-0 draw.
– The scoreless draw in Colorado Springs marks Logan Ketterer’s sixth clean sheet of the USL Championship 2020 season, making him third in the league for the stat.
– Locomotive FC extended its undefeated streak to 10 straight games, setting a new club-record and remains at the top of Group C heading into the final match of the season against Real Monarchs on Sunday.
Match: El Paso Locomotive FC vs Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC
Date: September 30, 2020
Venue: Weidner Field; Colorado Springs, Colorado
Weather: 89F; clear and sunny
Scoring Summary 1 2 F
El Paso Locomotive FC 0 0 0
Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC 0 0 0
Lineups:
El Paso Locomotive FC (4-2-3-1): Logan Ketterer; Mechack Jerome, Macauley King, Eder Borelli, Memo Diaz (Dylan Mares, 62’), Yuma, Saeed Robinson (Bryam Rebellón, 82’), Drew Beckie, Distel Zola (Richie Ryan, 62’), Aaron Gómez, Leandro Carrijó
Subs not used: Jermaine Fordah, Chapa Herrera, Moses Makinde, Matt Bahner
Switchbacks FC (4-4-2): Sean Melvin, Everardo Rubio, Adrian Diz Pe, Jordan Burt, Joan Cervós, Hiroki Kurimoto, Rony Argueta, Aidan Daniels (Mamadi Camara, 85’), Luke Ferreira (Austin Dewing, 68’), Christian Volesky (Uvaldo Luna, 68’), George Lebese
Subs not used: Gage Robinson, Abraham Rodriguez, Vladimir Walent
Stats Summary: ELP/COS
Shots: 11 / 9
Shots on Goal: 2 / 1
Saves: 1 / 2
Corner Kicks: 8 / 4
Fouls: 12 / 10
Offside: 1 / 0
MISCONDUCT SUMMARY:
COS – Everardo Rubio (Caution), 11’
ELP – Saeed Robinson (Caution), 57’