October 12, 2022 – United Soccer League Championship (USL) – Tampa Bay Rowdies News Release
The Tampa Bay Rowdies picked up a third straight win on Saturday night at Al Lang Stadium, knocking off El Paso Locomotive 3-1. Leo Fernandes put his mark on the match with two goals and a pivotal pass to set up another.
Wednesday served as El Paso’s regular-season finale, and the Western Conference side needed a win to have any chance at securing a playoff berth on the weekend. The Rowdies were equally motivated to take all three points in order to keep pressure on Memphis 901 FC for the number two seed in the Eastern Conference.
“The work rate that the boys put in to close down, try and disrupt El Paso was excellent,” said Rowdies Head Coach Neill Collins. “I felt on the basis of the work that we did and the quality in our play, the only disappointment is that we didn’t take more of the opportunities we had. But it was a really positive performance.”
Fernandes opened the scoring for the Rowdies 16 minutes into the match. After passing the ball out to the left flank for Jake LaCava, Fernandes continued his run to the far post, where he was rewarded with a good cross from LaCava to hammer home.
The Brazilian also helped set up Tampa Bay’s second tally of the night in the 43rd minute. Collecting a loose ball on the left side of the box, Fernandes took his time before playing a pass between the legs of a defender to Sebastian Guenzatti in front of goal. Guenzatti’s initial attempt was saved by keeper Evan Newton, but the Rowdies captain cleaned up on the rebound to double the lead. The tally is Guenzatti’s third goal over the last two games and his fifth overall on the season.
El Paso began to hold the ball more in the second half and enjoyed a spell of play that included their lone goal of the night as Ander Eguiluz connected on a corner kick at the near post to get one by Rowdies keeper Phil Breno.
Despite conceding a goal, the Rowdies were rarely in danger of giving up a second the rest of the night and looked the more threatening side. Fernandes had chance to extend the lead from the penalty spot in the 68th minute but had his attempt denied by a kick-save from Newton.
“You’re playing against a team that’s got to win, they’ve got to come out, they’ve got to try and keep the ball,” said Collins. “As soon as they lose it we can take that opportunity to transition and I thought we did that really well. Probably the ideal game to have against a good team heading…