In a game that was marked by chippy play, yellow cards, and a red card to captain Zano Mahic of the visiting team East Bay FC Stompers, the new home team El Farolito broke the deadlock with a late goal from Gustavo Ruelas in the 84th minute to give them a 2-1 win. Faro opened up the scoring with a 55th minute goal from Luis Hernandez (no relation to the Mexican legend), while the Stompers responded with the equalizer from Gerardo Moya in the 72nd minute.
This game marked the return of the former San Francisco team which played many of their games at the venerable stadium before moving to the East Bay for the 2016 season. The return leg was a rematch of the opening night meeting on March 17 which saw Farolito come back to steal a point on the road over the host Stompers in a 1-1 draw. As of Saturday night, El Farolito holds first place with 18 points over CD Aguiluchos with 17.
Flickr set – photos include the instagram posts- Photos by Nap Badillo/Nap Ba.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/theprojectfc/albums/72157696104902154
El Farolito stays home to host Sonoma County Sol in another noontime start Saturday May 19. The Stompers return to Hayward to host newcomer FC Davis on the same day at 7pm.
Update 5/14: Tommy Hodul’s report on the game.