SAFC Tops Louisville City FC 3-1 in Final, Santiago Patiño Named MVP
SAN ANTONIO (November 13, 2022) – San Antonio FC won the USL Championship Final for the first time in club history tonight, defeating Louisville City FC 3-1 in front of a record-breaking sellout crowd at Toyota Field.
San Antonio earned the first scoring opportunity, with Santiago Patiño drawing a foul in the box in the third minute to set up a penalty that was missed by Mitchell Taintor.
Patiño would be back in the action in stoppage time of the first half, converting a penalty after a handball in the box to make it a 1-0 SAFC lead heading into the break.
Taintor would bounce back in the 64th minute, assisting on Samuel Adeniran’s goal to make it a 2-0 SAFC lead.
In the 70th minute, Patiño would score his second of the night to make it a 3-0 lead after Mohammed Abu provided an assist. Patiño would finish the night earning MVP honors after his second brace of the 2022 postseason.
Louisville City would pull one back in the 78th minute to make it a 3-1 final.
The win secures the club’s first championship, and caps a season that saw the club match league records for regular season wins and road wins, while finishing with the second-most regular season points in league history.
Scoring Summary:
SAFC: 1-0, Santiago Patiño (Penalty) 45+3’
SAFC: 2-0, Samuel Adeniran (Assisted by Mitchell Taintor) 64’
SAFC: 3-0, Samuel Adeniran (Assisted by Mohammed Abu) 78’
Disciplinary Summary:
LOU: Yellow Card (Cameron Lancaster) 44’
LOU: Yellow Card (Bench) 47’
SAFC: Yellow Card (Fabien Garcia) 48’
LOU: Yellow Card (Danny Faundez) 61’
SAFC: Yellow Card (Jordy Delem) 62’
SAFC: Yellow Card (Bench) 67’
LOU: Yellow Card (Enoch Mushagalusa) 78
Attendance: 8,534 (sellout)
SAFC Starting XI: GK: Jordan Farr; D: Fabien Garcia, Mitchell Taintor, Carter Manley, Shannon Gomez; M: Connor Maloney (captain), Jordy Delem, Cristian Parano (Justin Dhillon 84’), Mohammed Abu; F: Santiago Patiño (Elliot Collier 90+7’), Samuel Adeniran (Ignacio Bailone 76’)
Substitutions not used: Grant Makela, David Loera, Jack Lynn, Ates Diouf
Postgame Notes:
- SAFC wins the USL Championship Final for the first time in club history.
- Santiago Patiño scored his fourth goal of the 2022 playoffs, and seventh in his career with SAFC to extend his club record.
- Samuel Adeniran’s goal in the 64th minute was his second of the 2022 postseason.
- Mitchell Taintor’s assist on Adeniran’s goal was his first of the 2022 postseason.
- Patiño’s second goal in the 70th minute marked his second brace of the 2022 postseason, and extended his club record for postseason goals with eight in his SAFC career.
- Mohammed Abu’s assist on Patiño’s goal was the second of his playoff career with SAFC.
- Santiago Patiño’s two goals earned him MVP honors.
- SAFC is the first team to finish with the best record in the regular season and win the postseason crown.
- SAFC finishes the season with five trophies (Copa Tejas, Copa Tejas Shield, Regular Season Champions, Western Conference Champions, and USL Champions)
Quotes:
Head Coach Alen Marcina
(On pulling away in the second half…)
“It’s going to be a special memory I’ll never forget. To be able to celebrate a championship in front of the best fans in the league, our fans here in San Antonio in our beautiful city, I’m just incredibly proud. Proud of everyone. From the game, we wanted to go against the best and Louisville is the best. They’ve proven it year after year. And to be fair, from start to finish, we were superior. Hats off to the Mentality Monsters. So proud of them. Louisville, heads held high, because they were fantastic all year. But I’m going to enjoy this moment.”
(On changing the mentality of the team and keeping things together after a couple early bad breaks…)
“Mentality Monsters. We say we want to be cohesive through executing our game [inaudible] tasks, ultra-competitive, want to win every action and resilient. You miss a [penalty kick], we got to be resilient. You hit the post a few minutes afterward, you have to be resilient. It’s a mentality that has been instituted since day one, and these guys every game plays like their last game. They earned the championship. Number one overall, Wester Conference Champions, overall champions.”
Forward Santiago Patino
(On how it feels to be a USL champion…)
“It’s an amazing feeling. We worked hard this season for this. I ‘m very happy to be able to win it with this team and this amazing group of guys.”
(On the penalty kick going into halftime…)
“I’ve prepared the whole season for PKs. I’m comfortable with taking PKs. I believe in myself, and I know I can do it.”
(On relief after the second-half goal…)
“In my mind, I’m ruthless. Alen Marcina changed my mind. Anything I have, I put it in.”
(On winning for San Antonio and winning at home…)
“Amazing for the city, amazing for this club and amazing for what’s coming. It’s amazing being home. We had a big advantage. We learned some last year, the advantage of playing at home. We fought for that Playoff spot at home, and it was a big change here.”
Defender Mitchell Taintor
(On what the moment feels like…)
“This has been 20 years in the making with when I started playing soccer. It’s pretty emotional. I love this city, I love this team, I love the guys. I’m just really grateful. I’m really grateful for my fiancé, too, because last year when I got sent down [loaner?], she encouraged me to go. I left her at home. And this year she not only encouraged me to come to San Antonio, but she’s chasing the dream with me living here. This is all for her and my family. It’s just an amazing night. The game didn’t start how I wanted it to with the worst penalty kick I’ve ever taken in my entire life, but that’s part of being a Mentality Monster. It’s getting back up when you’re down. I caused the penalty kick and then had the assists, so life is good. I’m just so happy for everyone here. It’s just been an amazing night. I’m on top of the world.
(On winning in front of the hometown fans…)
“We’re never going to lost at home. We knew that it wasn’t a matter of if we were going to win. It was by how much. These guys gave us so much confidence. It’s truly a special place to play here in Playoffs. There’s no other place like it.”
(On being successful with their playing style…)
“I really don’t care what any of them say. I like to clapback on Twitter a little bit, but this is how we win. Football is about finding ways to win. There’s a lot of ways to skin the cat and we do it a different way and it’s proven to work so far this year.”
Forward Samuel Adeniran
(On how it feels to be a USL champ…)
“Amazing. Best feeling in the world. The fact that we got two trophies in a year; it’s a blessing. First and foremost, I want to thank my ord and savior Jesus Christ for this opportunity, the fans, the coaching staff and my teammates. It’s just an amazing feeling.”
(On if feels more validating to win the USL Championship final after finishing with the best regular season record …)
“We knew we were the best team from the regular season until now. The be able to actually get the USL cup, it’s amazing. Obviously, the league doesn’t work the same way it does in Europe to where you just finish the league and you’re champions. From the first day we knew that we were going to be champions, so it really didn’t bother us that much.”
Defender Connor Maloney
(On the post-match feeling…)
“It’s such a special moment. These guys have fought all year, and we deserve it. We came out tonight and played our style, played our way and imposed our game on them. From minute one to minute 90, and you saw it out there. 3-1 against a very good Louisville side. This team is about heart, soul, grit and resilience. I can name every adjective in the book. This team, I am so proud of. Alan got us prepared all year, and he’s been amazing, this organization has been amazing, this city has been amazing and the fans have been amazing. Thank you to everyone who has come out and supported us. We can’t thank you enough.”
