EL PASO, Texas (February 1, 2025) – El Paso Locomotive FC kicked off its 2025 preseason schedule today at the Westside Soccer Complex, winning its match 4-0 against Barca Residency Academy.
Season Ticket Members, partners and local media got their first looks into the squad that Head Coach Wilmer Cabrera and Technical Director Ray Saari have built ahead of the 2025 USL Championship season.
“Our players had a lot of desire to get out there to play and run which made me happy,” Cabrera said in Spanish after the match. “The new players worked to showcase their quality and those who returned demonstrated that they want this year to be different. We want to turn things around completely and having the fans present for today’s match was something beautiful to share with them. I hope that today is just the beginning of something special.”
New addition Gabi Torres would open the scoring for the Locos in the first half then assist the second goal – scored by a trialist –to give El Paso the advantage heading into halftime.
El Paso would double its lead in the second half, with defender Ricky Ruiz setting up defender Alvaro Quezada for the third off a head and forward Amando Moreno capitalized off a goalie error to score the fourth. The Locos held on to secure victory against Barca, starting off the 2025 preseason on the right foot.
“I’m really excited for this year, and I’m really bought into Coach Wilmer and the coaching staff’s program,” Torres said to the media after his strong performance. “It’s still preseason so we’re not too concerned on the results or the performance. Instead, we’re working on getting our fitness back and building chemistry with the guys, so today was a really positive day for that. Today was a good game, we earned our right to have a day off tomorrow to rest and next week, we go again.”
Following the match, players and technical staff took time to thank the fans, sign autographs and take pictures with all who came out to support.
“We are really thankful and humbled by our fans because they are always supporting us,” Cabrera said. “I saw and experienced that [support] last year and now it’s our turn to show them and demonstrate with our games and results that we can bring them back, that we can respond to not only to them but to the city of El Paso. That’s our mentality for this season.”
SCORING SUMMARY
- ELP – Gabi Torres, Trialist (Gabi Torres), Alvaro Quezada (Ricky Ruiz), Amando Moreno
- BAR – N/A
UP NEXT: El Paso Locomotive FC will continue their preseason at the Westside Complex next Saturday, February 8 against UDA Soccer. That match will be closed to the public.