Monterey Bay FC seeks home bounce back against El Paso Locomotive

A missed defensive clearance gave Ilijah Paul the opening Monterey Bay FC had been chasing, and the Crisp-and-Kelp finally turned a promising stretch into a needed result against El Paso Locomotive FC. On Rodeo Night at Cardinale Stadium, Monterey Bay did more than survive another Western Conference test. It cashed in.

That mattered because Monterey Bay had spent the first half of June showing better work without always getting paid for it. The club arrived after a 2-0 loss at FC Tulsa, where it carried possession for long stretches in Oklahoma but came away empty. That left Monterey Bay at 3-8-2 with 11 points and still searching for a way to make improved performances count in the standings.

The signs of progress were already there. Monterey Bay had beaten Birmingham Legion FC and Sporting Club Jacksonville earlier in June, and head coach Alex Covelo’s side had begun to look more dangerous when the attacking rhythm clicked. The club also added another attacking piece on June 16, bringing in center-forward Annise Saidi on loan from San Diego FC through the end of the 2026 USL Championship season. That move fit the moment: Monterey Bay needed more end product, not more encouragement.

El Paso was not a soft landing spot. Monterey Bay had been beaten 3-0 by Locomotive in the first meeting of the year on March 14, and the rematch carried the feel of a measuring-stick game for a team trying to climb out of the Western Conference basement. The June 20 meeting was the second of three scheduled regular-season games between the clubs, with another trip to Southwest University Park set for August 5. With the league’s regular season running from March 7 to October 24, every point in mid-June carried extra weight.

USL’s June 20 recap later showed how costly the night was for El Paso, noting that its winless streak stretched to eight games and that it had collected only three points from its previous six league outings. For Monterey Bay, the more important number was the one that stopped the slide from good play into wasted opportunities. After Tulsa, after the March shutout, after the near misses, Monterey Bay finally found a night where the performance matched the result.