EL PASO - Tough loss.

The El Paso Patriots suffered a 2-0 loss to the Austin Aztex U23s on Saturday night at Patriots Stadium.

And although the match doesn’t really hurt El Paso in the PDL standings, it did rob them of some momentum as it approaches a U.S. Open Cup second-round match on Tuesday.

The Patriots could not get into a rhythm early on, which contributed to a lackluster first half.

In fact, it looked like both teams were content to go into the locker rooms at the half with the score tied at 0-0.

But just before the end of the half, Austin’s Andres Cuero scored the game’s first goal.

"Felt good," said Cuero. "I was waiting for it for a long time. I felt their back side was exposed, and I just waited for the perfect opportunity and it was there."

The Patriots lost two key players during the game. Esteban Palacios and Rodrigo Morin each sat out the second half with unspecified injuries.

El Paso already was without forward Michael Griego due to a injury and goalkeeper Jorge Muniz, who served a one game suspension for being red carded against Rio Grande Bravos last Saturday.  Now the Patriots have an important match Tuesday against USL 1 Austin Aztex for the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup second match qualifer. 

After a scoreless second half, Austin’s Kendell McFayden sealed the game with a goal during injury time.

"It felt good," said McFayden. "Late in the game, everyone is tired, but if you can get that insurance goal, it really helps."

Patriots coach Hugo Samano was unhappy with the result.

"It was an unfortunate game," he said. "Things did not come out as we were expecting.

We left out things that we were doing good, and that cost us."

Next up for the Patriots is the aforementioned Lamar Hunt Cup matchup with Austin’s first division team at 6:30 p.m. MDT on Tuesday at Nelson Field in Austin,TX. For complete story please log on to www.elpasotimes.com or  www.usopencup.com.

Jesus Sanchez may be reached at sports@elpasotimes.com.