Austin FC dominated San Antonio FC 5-1 on Saturday at St. David’s Performance Center, picking up the first La Copita win in club history and ending the tournament on a high note.
The scoring started early with Alex Ring breaking through the first line of defense. His play allowed Austin to transition seamlessly into the attacking half as Daniel Pereira found an open Cecilio Domínguez on the left wing. The Paraguayan slotted his shot into the far bottom corner for his second goal of the preseason.
Austin doubled their lead in the 14th minute when Ring found Ben Sweat on the far side of the field off a free kick. With plenty of time to line up his cross, Sweat delivered a perfect one to an onrushing Danny Hoesen. The striker out jumped a defender to head the ball in the back of the net.
ATXFC continued the onslaught in the 35th minute after Dominguez one a free kick a few yards outside the box. Tomás Pochettino to take it and finished at the far post, beating the outstretched San Antonio ‘keeper. It was Pochettino’s second free-kick goal of the preseason.
San Antonio managed to scrap a goal back four minutes later after a mistake in the back. After being put in a tough position, Brad Stuver misplayed a pass right to Santiago Patiño inside the 20-yard box and the former Orlando City SC scored past Stuver. But that wasn’t the last of the scoring in the first half.
Pereira picked up a ball at the edge of the box in the 44th minute, faked out a defender and easily found an open Dominguez to his left. The winger slotted in his second goal of the half to put Austin up 4-1 at the break.
The home side did not let up to start the second half and managed to add to their lead inside 10 minutes. Jared Stroud pressed San Antonio back into their own box and after winning the ball, was fouled. Ring became the third Austin player to score a first penalty-kick goal this preseason.
Austin threatened the goal a couple more times, including a Dominguez shot that clanged off the crossbar, but couldn’t add to the four-goal lead.
Austin will wrap up their preseason on Sunday with a closed-door scrimmage against Louisville City FC.
GOALS
- 3’ - ATX - Cecilio Dominguez (Daniel Pereira)
- 14’ - ATX - Danny Hoesen (Ben Sweat)
- 35’ - ATX - Tomás Pochettino
- 39’ - SAFC - Santiago Patiño
- 44’ - ATX - Cecilio Dominguez (Daniel Pereira)
- 54’ - ATX - Alex Ring (PK)
LINEUP
(4-3-3, R-L) GK: Brad Stuver (Andrew Tarbell 45’); Nick Lima, Jhohan Romaña (Freddy Kleemann 74’), Matt Besler, Ben Sweat; Daniel Pereira, Alex Ring, Tomás Pochettino; Jared Stroud, Danny Hoesen, Cecilio Dominguez
WHAT WE LEARNED
- ENDING ON A HIGH: While there’s still one more preseason match on Sunday, that is expected to be mostly played by reserves. Ending the preseason on a high for the players who are expected to start April 17 against LAFC will give them a boost heading into the regular season. It also doesn’t hurt that most of the players played all 90 minutes, as the coaching staff tries to build up their fitness. “The winning will be a byproduct of how well we can teach what we’re trying to do,” said Wolff after the match. “I think having the right mentality, the right intensity, the right decision making and execution goes into that and preparation.”
- BEWARE ATX: It’s been no secret that the strong suit of Austin so far this preseason has been the attack, as the team scored five goals in two games. That trend continued in an even stronger fashion Saturday as they seemed to score at will.
- GK BATTLE: Andrew Tarbell started the first La Copita match. Brad Stuver started the second. They then split the third on Saturday. Either could get the start against LAFC as we enter the final week of preseason. Stuver touched on the battle after Wednesday’s draw against FC Dallas. “I’m really excited to be here with [Tarbell] and competing with him. At the end of the day you always want to have multiple goalkeepers that can play,” said Stuver. “In New York, we always said we had two No. 1’s but only one can play gameday. So I hope that’s the same here and we make it extremely difficult for Josh to make that decision come LAFC.”
