First of three road matches in May against Western Conference rival
Landon Donovan had nothing but praise for his team. It had just beaten one of the top teams in the USL Championship coming from behind being down late in the match. Then SD Loyal overcame a 2-1 first half deficit and beat Tampa Bay Rowdies with goals by Jack Blake and Evan Conway in the second half. Donovan will take the three points on the road after a busy schedule in April. The SD Loyal coach was quick to praise his team after last week’s win and was fast to begin thinking about the next match.
SD Loyal is off to its best start in franchise history with a 6-2-1 record (19 points) and wants to continue to build on it. It will have to do so with its next game, another road match to start the month of May. This time, SD Loyal travels to face New Mexico United in a Western Conference affair. It will be the second time these two clubs meet. They played to a 1-1 draw last year at Torero Stadium. Douglas Martinez scored for SD Loyal but Ilija Ilic found the equalizer for New Mexico United four minutes into stoppage time.
Donovan said last year’s SD Loyal squad is much different than this year’s and is now winning games it wouldn’t have last season. Winning in Tampa Bay with a late rally is an example of that. SD Loyal will be looking to continue winning on the road and make up for the late draw against New Mexico last year in its first visit to Rio Grande Credit Union Field.
New Mexico United (2W-2L-2D, 8 points) will be coming off a midweek match at Sacramento Republic on Wednesday, May 4, after not playing this past weekend. Head Coach Zach Prince’s team most recently lost 1-0 to San Antonio FC on April 23 and will be looking to bounce back. The loss to San Antonio is the latest of a four-match winless streak. New Mexico’s last win came against El Paso Locomotive FC on March 19.
