USL MATCH RECAP | El Paso Locomotive FC: 4, Portland Timbers 2: 1

EL PASO, Texas – In Week 33 of the USL Championship season, T2 fell 4-1 on the road to El Paso Locomotive FC at Southwest University Park on Tuesday night. Zach Kobayashi scored his second goal of the USL Championship campaign, as T2 were eliminated from playoff contention.

Timbers Academy On Display
Five Timbers Academy products appeared against El Paso. Gio Calixtro logged his 25th appearance of the season, while Marco Farfan made his 15th start for T2 on loan from the Portland Timbers. Timbers Academy midfielder Gerardo Durán made his second appearance of the season, logging 21 minutes as a second-half substitute. Timbers Academy defender Nico Lopez (17 years, 11 months, 14 days) made his T2 debut, appearing 14 minutes off the bench. Notably, Timbers Academy defender Mitchell Ferguson (16 years, 9 months, 14 days) became the second-youngest player to appear in a match for T2, logging six minutes as a second-half substitute.

Key Plays
El Paso scored the opening goal in the fourth minute after Sebastian Velasquez dribbled down the right side of the penalty area before finding the back of the net at the near post to give his side a 1-0 advantage.

Searching for a quick equalizer, Todd Wharton’s shot from the top of the box missed to the right of the post in the sixth minute.

El Paso doubled its lead to 2-0 in the 24th minute after Nick Ross’ low shot from the left side of the box was placed past T2 goalkeeper Jake Leeker.

Portland answered back one minute later when Kobayashi struck a low shot from the center of the box into the bottom right hand corner of the net to make it 2-1 in the 25th minute.

T2 nearly scored in the 36th minute after Harold Hanson beat his marker down the right wing before firing a powerful shot that forced El Paso goalkeeper Logan Ketterer to parry the ball over the crossbar. Just before halftime, Calixtro’s flicked pass to the left side of the six-yard box fell to Wharton, but his volleyed shot was cleared off the line by El Paso midfielder Yuma in the 45th minute.  

Locomotive FC added a third goal when Josué Gómez rolled his finish from inside the center of the box into the back of the net in the 68th minute. Gómez scored 10 minutes later from close range to give El Paso a 4-1 lead in the 79th minute.

Next Game
Next up, T2 will travel to face Rio Grande Valley FC at H-E-B Park in the regular-season finale on Friday, Oct. 18. Beginning at 5:30 p.m. (Pacific), the match against Rio Grande Valley will be streamed live on ESPN+.

T2 (10-15-8, 38pts) vs. El Paso Locomotive FC (13-11-9, 50pts) 
Oct. 15, 2019 – Southwest University Park (El Paso, Texas)

Goals by Half                1          2          F
T2                                 1          0          1
El Paso                         2          2          4         

Scoring Summary:
ELP: Velasquez (Ross), 4
ELP: Ross (Kiffe), 24
POR: Kobayashi, 25
ELP: Gómez (Velasquez), 68
ELP: Gómez (Kiffe), 79

Misconduct Summary:
ELP: Yuma (caution), 11
POR: Durán (caution), 78
POR: Diz Pe (caution), 83
POR: Calixtro (caution), 88

Lineups:
POR: GK Leeker, D Hanson (Ferguson, 84), D Smith, Diz Pe, D Farfan ©, M Kobayashi (Durán, 69), M Wharton, M Ornstil, M Hurtado (Lopez, 76), F Sierakowski, F Calixtro

Substitutes Not Used: GK Lyon, M Sanchez

TOTAL SHOTS: 10 (Wharton, 3); SHOTS ON GOAL: 2 (Hanson, Kobayashi, 1); FOULS: 10 (Calixtro, 2); OFFSIDES: 1; CORNER KICKS: 5; SAVES: 4

ELP: GK Ketterer, D Kiffe, D Fox, D Ntoko ©, D Rebellón, M Yuma, M Ross, M Velasquez (Bosetti, 82), F Gómez (Ryan, 88), F Salgado, F Kiesewetter (Herrera, 69)

Substitutes Not Used: GK Fordah, D Beckie, D Diaz, M Contreras

TOTAL SHOTS: 19 (Gómez, 6); SHOTS ON GOAL: 8 (Gómez, 3); FOULS: 5 (Yuma, 2); OFFSIDES: 1; CORNER KICKS: 5; SAVES: 1

Referee: Sergii Demianchuk
Assistant Referees: Matthew Rodman, Mark Novosel
4th Official: Marco Vega
Attendance: 6,175
Weather: Clear, 80 degrees

All statistics contained in this box score are unofficial