NM United falls late on the road to San Antonio FC

Despite Kris Shakes' best efforts, the dam finally broke on New Mexico United on Saturday night.

Shakes, NMU's goalkeeper, came up with one scrambling save after another at San Antonio's Toyota Field, but he couldn't get to Daniel Barbir's header in the 72nd minute.

That was the difference in San Antonio FC's 1-0 victory over visiting United. Barbir redirected Jorge Hernandez's free kick just inside the far post and New Mexico's offense never found an answer.

The margin might easily have been more as SAFC dominated the first half and outshot United by a 20-10 count overall. Shakes managed to save eight of the nine shots San Antonio put on target — making several dazzling stops along the way. But NMU's late-arriving attack put just four shots on target and rarely threatened SAFC goalkeeper Joey Batrouni.

United coach Dennis Sanchez said his club spent far too much time playing defense over the first 45 minutes.

"I thought we suffered well together," Sanchez said, "but we were just off in the first half. We were not doing things collectively and San Antonio has players that can hurt you. We're still integrating some new guys and we're not where we need to be yet. It's still very early but we need to be much better and we will be."

San Antonio (1-0-1) set the tone early on an unseasonably hot March night in Texas. Nearly all of the first 25 minutes were played in New Mexico's defensive third with SAFC forcing Shakes and his back line to work up an early sweat.

Shakes was up to the task on a pair of hard shots by Dimitri Erofeev, punching one just over the crossbar and diving to deflect another just outside the right post. San Antonio had a 7-0 shot advantage just 15 minutes into the game.

NMU finally began to hold some possession late in the half and nearly broke through in the 45th minute. Ousman Jabang lofted a well-placed serve toward the left post that Greg Hurst headed toward the net, but Batrouni got his left hand up just in time to deflect the ball away.

SAFC outshot United 12-5 in the first half but went to intermission tied — thanks in large part to Shakes.

"Shakes was so big," Sanchez said. "He saved us. We had a pretty good look very late in the half, but didn't create nearly enough chances."

Shakes continued to come up big in the second half, managing to get just enough of a driving shot by Santiago Patino to deflect the ball off the right post. But NMU's goalkeeper could do nothing about Barbir's header off a free kick from near the left sideline.

NMU had its chances to get even late, perhaps the best coming on a Zico Bailey free kick from just outside the penalty area. His curling shot banged off the right post in the third minute of stoppage time.

"Giving up a goal on a set piece hurts," Sanchez said. "I thought we played better overall in the second half and started to find a little more rhythm, but we have work to do before Colorado Springs comes in next week. We're looking forward to playing at home and bouncing back from this one."