The first day of the USL soccer season at Southwest University Park isn’t quite like the first day of the Pacific Coast League season later this month; internationally, soccer’s been going on for eight months, and the USL has only been off for five months.
In El Paso, though, a new season started Saturday night for the Locomotive against Hartford Athletic, the second furthest USL team from El Paso at 3,185 miles (it’s 105 miles closer than Rhode Island, which opens next week against New Mexico), and for many of the 6,111 fans in attendance, last October was plenty long ago.
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They’ll have to wait a little longer for a victory, as for the sixth time in six seasons the Locomotive failed to win an opener. Hartford prevailed 1-0 in a game where El Paso controlled possession for large stretches, particularly the first half hour of the second half, but couldn’t find a finishing touch.
Seeing the team back on the pitch created excitement of its own.
“I’ve been waiting for this for five months,” said Manny Cruz, decked out in his Locomotive jersey and holding a bag of Locomotive swag. “I’ve been counting down the days for a couple of months. I’m excited for this. This is something I’ve done with my family for a while, we love coming to the games.”
The sentiments were similar in the section behind the south goal, where the 8th Notch supporters group reigns.
“It’s been five months, but I’m very excited to be here in (section) 105 with my family 8th Notch, the best support group in all the USL,” said Loco Mascarilla, presumably not his birth name but an appropriate moniker for a man in an 8th Notch-themed Lucha Libre mask he’s been wearing to games for six years now.
The players he was watching warm up had many new faces from last year, as the Locomotive turned over much of the team in the past five months, and Loco Mascarilla thinks the changes were going to be for the better than a season ago, when El Paso was eliminated in the first round of the USL playoffs.
“Honestly, with the new players we have, I think this season is going to be different,” he said. “I think we’re going to do well. We have some returning players who are going to help encourage these guys. I think we’re going all the way to the finals for sure.”
Another big addition from last season is DJ Johnny Kage, who was running the pregame music mix from the field, a few yards past the south end line.
“It’s awesome, I can’t wait,” he said of his first game in this capacity. “The energy that soccer brings, Locomotive fans are crazy, I’m super excited. Yes, this is something different and I can’t wait.”
On the field the game was competitive, with the Locomotive controlling 64% of possession but conceding a 13th-minute penalty that meant the season wasn’t going to start the way they wanted it to on the field. They had a potential second-half equalizer whistled offside.
Off the field, success could be measured with the noisy crowd welcoming the beautiful game back to El Paso for another season.
Bret Bloomquist can be reached at bbloomquist@elpasotimes.com; @Bretbloomquist on Twitter.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Locomotive fans welcome team back for sixth season