On 510 Day Oakland snapped their longest winless streak against a single team, defeating Western Conference leaders San Antonio on Saturday night in Texas by a final score of 2-1.
Oakland started out on the attack, nearly taking the lead just three minutes into the game when Peter Wilson dribbled into the San Antonio box, beating the keeper but pushing his shot on the empty net wide left as the defense began to collapse on him.
Following this strong start, the match settled a bit as both sides began trading scoring chances. Perhaps slightly against the run of play, it was San Antonio that would find the back of the net first. In the 12th minute Jorge Hernandez received a ball inside the Oakland box from a headed pass, and had just enough room to fire a strike on net, beating Roots keeper Kendall McIntosh to the right side to make it 0-1.
San Antonio started playing very possession minded soccer, keeping the ball away from Oakland and slowing the pace of play.
Despite struggling to maintain possession, Roots earned a penalty kick in the 23rd minute when Peter Wilson was fouled in the San Antonio area. José Luis Sinisterra was the man at the dot, and in the 25th minute Oakland leveled the match at 1-1 when Sinisterra fooled San Antonio keeper Richard Sánchez, and leisurely deposited the try into the lower right of the goal.
Both sides traded scoring opportunities through the remainder of the first frame, while San Antonio continued to win the possession battle.
The second half of the match started slower than the first, with scoring opportunities waning for both squads. This changed around the final third of the contest when San Antonio started pushing hard to break the deadlock, peppering McIntosh with shot attempts and playing much of their game in the Oakland defensive third.
But against the run of play it was Oakland who would find a winner. In the 84th minute San Antonio’s keeper flubbed a throw attempt, giving the ball straight to Peter Wilson who was again alone on net. This time, Wilson made no mistake, finding twine to give Roots a 2-1 lead.
San Antonio continued to push, but perhaps pushed a bit too hard as an 89th minute red card shown to Mitchell Taintor left his side down a man when they needed a goal most.
Roots held on until the final whistle, earning their first ever victory versus San Antonio, and their third win in their last four USL Championship contests.
Oakland will look to make it four of five when they head to Cary next Friday, May 16th for a faceoff with North Carolina FC at 4 PM PT.
Oakland Roots SC at San Antonio FC
USL Championship | May 10, 2025
Venue: Toyota Field
Kickoff: 5:30 PM PT
Weather: 78 degrees, sunny
SCORELINE:
OAK: 2
SA: 1
SCORING SUMMARY:
SA: Jorge Hernandez 12’
OAK: José Luis Sinisterra 25’
OAK: Peter Wilson 84’
DISCIPLINE SUMMARY:
OAK: Ilya Alekseev 8’ (yellow card)
SA: Jorge Hernandez 13’ (yellow card)
SA: Alex Crognale 22’ (yellow card)
SA: Mitchell Taintor 30’ (yellow card)
SA: Jake LaCava 87’ (yellow card)
SA: Mitchell Taintor 89’ (2nd yellow card) (red card)
OAK: Kendall McIntosh 90’+ (yellow card)
OAKLAND ROOTS LINEUP: Kendall McIntosh, Julian Bravo (Gagi Margvelashvili), Wolfgang Prentice (Baboucarr Njie), Peter Wilson, Panos Armenakas (Daniel Gomez), José Luis Sinisterra (EJ Johnson), Tyler Gibson, Neveal Hackshaw, Bobosi Byaruhanga, Kai Greene, Ilya Alekseev (Abdirizak Mohamed)
Unused subs: Raphael Spiegel, Ali Elmasnaouy
Shots: 7 | Shots On Goal: 4 | Corner Kicks: 1 | Fouls: 16 | Offsides: 2
SAN ANTONIO LINEUP: Richard Sánchez, Mohamed Omar, Mitchell Taintor, Alex Crognale, Nelson Blanco (Jake LaCava), Luis Paredes, Dominick Hernandez, Almir de Jesús Soto (Luke Haakenson), Jorge Hernandez, Jimmy Medranda, Juan Agudelo (Diogo Pacheco)
Unused subs: Lucio Berrón, Dmitri Erofeev, Alex Greive, Daniel Namani, Dyllan Mendoza
Shots: 20 | Shots On Goal: 6 | Corner Kicks: 6 | Fouls: 11 | Offsides: 1
