Juarez City.- A Duke Lacroix goal in added time gave the Colorado Springs Switchbacks a 2-1 victory over the El Paso Locomotive on Wednesday night in the second round of the 2023 United Soccer League Championship season.
The game was played at Southwest University Park and was the second of three in a row that the Locos will have at home.
For the second consecutive season, the El Paso machine begins a campaign with defeats in the first two games, after being beaten 1-0 by Sacramento the previous Saturday.
Last year, they lost the road opener 3-1 to Sacramento and then lost 2-1 to New Mexico United at Southwest University Park.
This Wednesday, Los Locos found themselves down on the scoreboard just after minute two of action, when Christian Herrera made a long clearance that defender Nicholas Hinds couldn’t correctly parry and Maalique Foster controlled the ball from the right corner, then took advantage of the Hinds slips to send his cross into the area and there Jairo Henríquez finished off at will to open the scoring.
The tie reached the 48th minute. From a rebound, Ricardo Zacarías received the ball on the edge of the large area and with touches he finished it off with his right foot to send it into the back of the net, hit the base of the right post of the goal defended by Herrera .
It seemed that each team would take a point to the bag, but around 90+2, Foster received a filtered pass from midfield, controlled the ball in three quarters of the field, beat Luis ‘Chapa’ Herrera from El Paso by speed, entered into the area and from his left foot he shot across the ball to beat Benny Díaz and give Colorado Springs the victory.
This Saturday, the Locos will once again be at their stadium to welcome Detroit City FC starting at 7:30 p.m.
