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For the second consecutive season, New Mexico United’s run in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup came to an end thanks to rival El Paso. 

Last year, the match went to a penalty kick shootout, but no such theatrics were necessary Wednesday as Locomotive came away with a convincing 4-0 win at the University of New Mexico Soccer and Track Complex.

It’s United’s third consecutive loss to Locomotive, including USL Championship play and equals the franshise’s worst home loss. 

It certainly wasn’t the way United coach Dennis Sanchez expected his squad to come out. 

“I think that the hard part as a staff, as a team, right now is that we’ve been very inconsistent in our our way of things,” he said. “So if I have to get them motivated for a Derby match, Open Cup game like this than we have bigger problems. So I don’t think it was that they weren’t up for it, per se, but I do think that we have more capacity to be the aggressor, to be on the front foot.”

New Mexico fell behind in the 38th minute after a long Locomotive throw-in created a scoring chance inside the goalkeeper’s area. A shot caromed out to the feet of unmarked defender Alvaro Quezada about 15 yards out and he put it away. 

The goal came after an extended period of El Paso pressure that gradually compressed United’s defensive effort.

New Mexico’s best opportunity to score came in the 30th minute when Dayonn Harris got on the end of a pass from Justin Rennicks, danced past a Locomotive defender and tried to curl in a shot from a tough angle. His shot beat goalkeeper Abraham Romero, but it rolled just wide of the far post.

Harris, who was New Mexico’s most dangerous player throughout the first half as he had several attacks down the near wing, appeared to suffer a lower body injury and was pulled from the match at halftime. Sanchez later said the move was tactical in nature.

For all intents and purposes, United’s chances of winning evaporated in the 59th minute when midifielder Ousman Jabang picked up his second yellow card, which resulted in his send off with a red card and left New Mexico down a man for the rest of the match. 

“We have to be more disciplined,” Sanchez said. “We saw a little bit in the Colorado game. … I hate to put it just on one player, but Ousman is an experienced pro and when you have a yellow card, you have to play in a different way. So even playing down a man, there’s still a level of hope. But the timing of a second goal right after that happened was killer for us.”

Locomotive took immediate advantage after Alex Mendez hammered home a curling free kick from 35 yards out that New Mexico goalkeeper Raiko Arozarena never had a chance to stop.

Note: United defender Maliek Howell made his first return to the Lobos field where he started his college career, playing for UNM as a freshman during the program’s final season in 2018.