San Antonio FC forward Christian Sorto celebrates his goal during a match against Sacramento Republic FC on Saturday, May 23, 2026, at Toyota Field. SAFC won 2-1.
Rance Ristau/San Antonio FC
With pinpoint shooting, San Antonio FC broke through one of the stingiest defenses in the USL Championship and held on for a hard fought 2-1 win over Sacramento Republic FC on Saturday at Toyota Field.
Behind first half goals from Christian Sorto and Dmitrii Erofeev, SAFC withstood a physical Sacramento club that came into the match conceding the second-fewest goals in the league.
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With the win, SAFC (5-1-5, 20 points) won its first home league match in nearly two months (a 2-0 victory over Lexington SC on March 29) and stayed atop the USL Western Conference table. Sacramento (3-2-4, 13 points) fell to sixth place in the conference standings.
San Antonio kept its composure in a match in which nine yellow cards were issued – eight of those in the second half, including citations given to Sorto and Sacramento’s Mark-Anthony Kaye after a second-half scuffle involving several players from both clubs.
“It’s great to get three points and be atop of the table,” SAFC defender Alex Crognale said. “Coach (Carlos Llamosa) said in the locker room after the game when we play pretty and win, that’s great. But in a game like this where it’s ugly, we did the job and still came out on top with three points, and that’s the most important thing.”
At one point during the contentious match, Crognale said he exchanged heated words with the Sacramento coach.
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“That’s just part of the game,” Crognale said. “We’re going to have games where it kind of feels like a boxing match out there, where one team is having a blow and the next team is having a blow and challenges are getting tossed around. I walked towards the coach. He had words with me. So, then naturally I had words back and that’s just the way it goes. I think we showed a lot of composure despite the dustup, we stayed strong and mentally strong to finish off the game.”
San Antonio FC midfielder Dmitrii Erofeev celebrates his goal during a match against Sacramento Republic FC on Saturday, May 23, 2026, at Toyota Field. SAFC won 2-1.
Rance Ristau/San Antonio FC
San Antonio FC defender Alex Crognale dribbles the ball during a match against Sacramento Republic FC on Saturday, May 23, 2026, at Toyota Field. SAFC won 2-1.
Rance Ristau/San Antonio FC
San Antonio FC midfielder Dmitrii Erofeev launches a left-footed shot toward the goal during a match against Sacramento Republic FC on Saturday, May 23, 2026, at Toyota Field. SAFC won 2-1.
Rance Ristau/San Antonio FC
San Antonio FC forward Christian Sorto controls the ball during a match against Sacramento Republic FC on Saturday, May 23, 2026, at Toyota Field. SAFC won 2-1.
Rance Ristau/San Antonio FC
San Antonio FC forward Christian Sorto gains possession during a match against Sacramento Republic FC on Saturday, May 23, 2026, at Toyota Field. SAFC won 2-1.
Rance Ristau/San Antonio FC
Llamosa said he felt his club controlled the match for the most part against the physical Sacramento club.
“This is a tough team to play against,” Llamosa said. “The guys up front did well. We scored two goals. At some point Sacramento pushed us back, and we defended for some period of time. We kept the lead and we defended well until the end, and we got the three points against a good team, especially at home.”
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Sorto put SAFC up 1-0 in the 27th minute when he took a through ball from Erofeev and fired a shot from inside the penalty box into the right corner of the net. The goal came after SAFC goalkeeper Joey Batrouni had a double save on the previous Sacramento possession, deflecting a shot and then making a save on the rebound attempt at the goal.
Erofeev then got his turn to shine in the 33rd minute, when he pivoted and turned towards the penalty box, launching a left-footed shot into left corner of the goal.
Sacramento got on the board 10 minutes into the second half as Forster Ajago tapped in a goal off a set piece. Even though the match got chippy in the second half, SAFC turned away numerous attempts by Sacramento to tie the game, as Batrouni came up with five saves to secure the win for SAFC.
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The Sacramento match was the last home game for SAFC for over a month, as it is set to play four straight road matches across all competitions beginning Wednesday in Jacksonville, Fla., against Sporting JAX (0-8-1, 1 point) a new club in the USL Championship Eastern Conference.
SAFC returns to Toyota Field on July 4 for a match against Monterey Bay FC.