El Paso Locomotive (18-3-10, 64 points) routed OKC Energy FC in a 4-0 win in front of a sold-out crowd at Southwest University Park on Sunday night. The victory seals 25 games unbeaten at home since July 2020 and leaves Locomotive undefeated at home in the 2021 Regular Season. Forward Aaron Gomez and Defender Macca King contributed two goals apiece in the victory.
“It was good to do this at home,” said Head Coach and Technical Director Mark Lowry. “We gave the fans some goals. It was a great crowd tonight for our last home game of the regular season. It was good to give the crowd – the fans who have been with us for three years – that ending to a season. They saw some goals and they saw some good play. It was on TV and it’s always even better to do it when it’s a nationally televised game. We could really show people what we can do.”
El Paso Locomotive completely dominated the flow of the game, outperforming OKC Energy FC to leave the visitors without a shot on goal throughout the 90 minutes. A relatively quiet opening half-hour was outshone by an explosive eight-minute stretch that saw Gomez score a brace for his ninth and tenth goals of the season, while King matched it for his fifth and sixth goals. Gomez opened the scoring in the 40th minute breaking past the defense for what ultimately was an easy tap-in. The Mexican striker doubled his own scoring with a beautiful tight shot into the corner of the near post.
King continued to prove himself to be a set-piece specialist, putting in both his goals at the end of corner kick opportunities. The first came in the 44th minute, where his strike was stopped by OKC goalkeeper CJ Cochran, though not before the full ball went over the end line. The second came in stoppage time of the first half where he jumped head and shoulders above to rest for the 4-0 lead. Locomotive stayed defensively stout to put quick ends to any Energy FC comeback dreams, earning a 13th clean sheet of the season and to remain undefeated at home for the 2021 USL Championship Regular Season.
UP NEXT: El Paso Locomotive ends the 2021 USL Championship regular season on the road against Rio Grande Valley FC on Saturday, October 30. Kickoff from H-E-B Park is set for 6:30 p.m. MT and will be broadcast live on ESPN+.
GOAL SCORING RUNDOWN
ELP: Aaron Gomez (Dylan Mares), 40th minute: Securing a turnover at midfield, Diego Luna picked his head up to quickly find Mares who linked the play over to Gomez. Gomez took quick touches to move past his defender to create a one-on-one against OKC ‘keeper CJ Cochran before putting the ball through to the back of the net.
ELP: Macca King (Aaron Gomez, Dylan Mares), 42nd minute: From a corner kick opportunity moments later, Mares served in the ball that earned an extra touch from Gomez to the far post where King was left unmarked. His shot stuck Cochran square in the net, who deflected it back into play but not before it crossed over the end line.
ELP: Aaron Gomez (Matt Bahner), 44th minute: Gomez scored an absolute beauty of a goal from a tight angle. Bahner served in a ball over the top that Gomez was able to speed past the OKC defense to latch on to. From the left side, Gomez slotted away the goal into the top of the near post where CJ Cochran had no opportunity to get a touch to it.
ELP: Macca King (Dylan Mares), 48th minute: King closed out the scoring with a headed effort in first-half stoppage time. Off another set-piece opportunity served in by Mares, King got his head on it to redirect it deep into the netting to ultimately close out the game 4-0.
NOTES:
– Forward Aaron Gomez scored his 21st goal in a Locomotive jersey during the Regular Season since joining the club in the 2019 season.
– Midfielder Dylan Mares furthered his grasp on the all-time assist leader through the Regular Season with two assists in the night to make 11 since joining the club in 2020.
– El Paso Locomotive remains unbeaten at home in the 2021 USL Championship Regular Season with a record of 13-0-3. Dating back to July 2020, including playoff matches, Locomotive is now 25 games unbeaten at Southwest University Park.
Match: El Paso Locomotive vs OKC Energy FC | Date: October 24, 2021
Venue: Southwest University Park; El Paso, Texas
Weather: 76F and clear skies
Scoring Summary 1 2 F
El Paso Locomotive 4 0 4
Austin Bold FC 0 0 0
ELP – Aaron Gomez (Dylan Mares), 40’
ELP – Macca King (Aaron Gomez), 42’
ELP – Aaron Gomez (Matt Bahner), 44’
ELP – Macca King (Dylan Mares), 45’+3
Lineups:
El Paso Locomotive FC (4-4-2): Logan Ketterer; Matt Bahner, Mechack Jerome (Cole Turner, 62’), Andrew Fox, Macca King (Eder Borelli, 45’), Nick Ross, Bryam Rebellon (Jose Aguinaga, 33’), Chapa Herrera, Aaron Gomez (Lucho Solignac, 61’), Diego Luna (Leandro Carrijo, 79’), Dylan Mares (Brooklyn Raines, 86’)
Subs not used: Ben Beaury
OKC Energy FC (4-4-2): CJ Cochran; Mitchell Osmond, Deklan Wynne (Aidan Daniels, 45’), Zachary Ellis-Hayden, Lamar Batista, Conor Donovan, Brad Dunwell (Tucker Stephenson, 45’), Hiroki Kurimoto, Arun Basuljevic (Kodai Iida, 75’), Villyan Bijev (Jonathan Brown, 75’), Seyi Adekoya (Jaime Chavez, 64’)
Subs not used: Sam Howard, Muengnenshime Goshit
Stats Summary: ELP | OKC
Shots: 14 | 7
Shots on Goal: 7 | 0
Saves: 0 | 3
Corner Kicks: 6 | 2
Fouls: 11 | 8
Offside: 4 | 1
MISCONDUCT SUMMARY:
ELP – Macca King (Caution), 45’+4
ELP – Matt Bahner (Caution), 57’
For more information Click Here | For our complete coverage Click Here
