El Paso Locomotive FC 0-1 Hartford Athletic
Southwest University Park; El Paso, Texas
Saturday, March 9, 2024
Head Coach and Technical Director Brian Clarhaut
On the match:
“I’m happy with how we played, we stuck to the match plan and the second half was superior. Unfortunately, we didn’t get the goal. The hardest thing to do in our sport is to score goals. We outshot [Hartford Athletic] 15-7 but [scoring] is the final detail. I liked what we were doing, I thought we were causing enough problems. Those first 10-15 minutes, I don’t think they were super sharp from either team. I think as we settled into the game, you saw what we could do.”
On the new players:
“In terms of how we played, some of the stuff we did was at a very high level. We’re doing things not too many teams are doing in this league. Eight new players made their debuts and it’s going to get more fluid, a little bit sharper.”
On Wednesday’s home match vs Monterey Bay F.C.:
“It’s [Monterey Bay’s] first game. I will review the film after I watch our game then we got to get to work. We were fortunate to have a lot of video on Hartford going into this game and that’s not always the case… we’ll look at them and prepare accordingly.”
Defender Tony Alfaro
On the match (translated from Spanish):
“Tonight’s match was a progression of what we learned during the preseason. We have a bunch of new players and we’re slowly starting to build up our relationship and chemistry and tonight showed that our squad has a lot of quality and a game philosophy that [Brian Clarhuat] has instilled in us. I believe we were superior, but the game is won by goals. We’ll learn from this and move forward because I’m sure we’ll win many games throughout the season.”
On how the team will react ahead of Wednesday’s contest against Monterey Bay F.C.:
“It’s a learning process; we still have 33 games. This is the beginning so we’re just going to keep working, go over video, look at what we can change and do better and keep progressing.”
Defender Lucas Stauffer
On the match:
“That’s sport. A lot of the time, you feel you deserve to get a result but there’s another team that thinks they should deserve a result. It was just a bit unlucky tonight.”
On the team’s depth:
“There were so many good things that came out of tonight, and you could see that we’ve got such a deep squad. Our entire starting eleven, our bench, the guys who aren’t even rostered right now, from top to bottom, it’s a grind. [The squad] is very competitive within training because we know we have guys who just have a lot of quality.”
On the match day atmosphere for the 2024 Home Opener:
“I use a very simple gauging system: if it’s hard for me to communicate with a teammate on the field, normally you’re playing in a pretty good atmosphere. I couldn’t hear five yards in front of me and you can kind of hear the hoarseness in my voice. Credit to the fans because they made it an unbelievable atmosphere and it’s only going to get better. So for those people who came out tonight, as a player and as a fan, those are the types of environments you want to be in. Unfortunately, the result didn’t go our way but I think that the people that were in the stands tonight or watched from home can see that we have a very good product.”
NOTES
- Eight (8) players made their Locomotive debuts: Bolu Akinyode, Tony Alfaro, Brandan Craig, Justin Dhillon, Amando Moreno, Tumi Moshobane, Lucas Stauffer, Jahmali Waite.
- Nick Hinds registered his 150th appearance in the USL Championship. It was his 57th match for Locomotive in regular season play.
- This is the first time El Paso has lost a match to Hartford Athletic.
- El Paso’s streak of never winning a season opener continues for a sixth straight year.
UP NEXT: El Paso Locomotive FC welcomes Monterey Bay FC to Southwest University Park on Wednesday, March 13 for the first in-conference clash of 2024. Kick-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. MT and tickets for the match can be purchased at eplocomotivefc.com/tickets.