South Texas Derby

The South Texas Derby is a regular season series between American soccer clubs Rio Grande Valley FC Toros of Edinburg, Texas and San Antonio FC of San Antonio, Texas.[1][2] Both teams compete in the Western Conference of the USL Championship, the second tier of soccer in the United States. The teams are located in cities situated in South Texas and are separated by roughly 237 miles (381 km).

South Texas Derby
South Texas Derby logo
LocaleSouth Texas
Teams
First meetingMay 7, 2016
Latest meetingSan Antonio 3-2 RGV
2020 USLC (September 5, 2020)
Next meeting2021 USLC
Statistics
Meetings total16
Most winsSan Antonio (6)
Top scorerÉver Guzmán (5 goals)
All-time recordRio Grande Valley: 5
Drawn: 5
San Antonio: 6
Largest victoryRGV 3–0 San Antonio
2016 USL (September 24, 2016)

Rivalry

The first match in the series was on May 7, 2016 at Toyota Field in San Antonio. RGV's Rob Lovejoy scored the first goal in the rivalry in the 69th minute.[3] San Antonio came back from being down 0–2 but eventually lost to RGV as Lovejoy secured the win with a stoppage-time goal.[4] Needing a win in their final regular-season match to secure a place in the 2016 USL Playoffs, San Antonio FC lost to RGV 0–3 in Edinburg. The loss kept San Antonio out of the playoffs in their inaugural season, while RGV went on to the playoffs, losing in the First Round. RGV FC took the 2016 season series with three wins, one draw, and no losses.[5]

The 2017 USL season saw San Antonio FC earning its first win of the season, and in the Derby, against RGV on March 26, 2017. San Antonio would go on to win two out of the three meetings in the series. In a reversal from their inaugural seasons, San Antonio FC finished in second place in the Western Conference standings; making their first playoff appearance, while Rio Grande Valley FC finished in 11th place, failing to make the playoffs for the first time in their history.

The 2018 USL season was the first time that both teams failed to qualify for the playoffs. San Antonio missed out by just three points and one place in the standings, while RGV ended up in 13th place. In the Derby, 2018 was the first season that RGV failed to win a single match against San Antonio. From the last match in the 2017 season, SAFC went on a four match unbeaten streak against RGV, the team's longest in the rivalry. Beginning with the 2019 season, the rivalry began being scheduled as an equal home-away format.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic and the announcement of the updated competition format for the remainder of the 2020 USL Championship season, the South Texas Derby competition did not play-out as originally scheduled. Both teams were placed in Group D.[6] The revised 2020 schedule was released on July 2 with four scheduled South Texas Derby matches in an equal home-away format.[7]

Results

Home team is listed on the left, away team is listed on the right. Home team's score is listed first.

Top goalscorers
As of the latest matchup on September 5, 2020[8] Does not include own goals. List is sorted by last name when total goals are equal
Position Name Team Goals
1 Éver Guzmán San Antonio FC 5
2 Eric Bird Rio Grande Valley FC 2
Gonzalo Di Renzo San Antonio FC
Jesús Enríquez Rio Grande Valley FC
Billy Forbes San Antonio FC
Rob Lovejoy Rio Grande Valley FC
Cristian Parano San Antonio FC
Michael Salazar Rio Grande Valley FC
Carlos Small Rio Grande Valley FC
Luis Solignac San Antonio FC
11 Yair Arboleda Rio Grande Valley FC 1
Ignacio Bailone San Antonio FC
Jack Barmby San Antonio FC
Deshane Beckford Rio Grande Valley FC
Robert Castellanos Rio Grande Valley FC
Shawn Chin San Antonio FC
Kyle Edwards Rio Grande Valley FC
José Escalante Rio Grande Valley FC
Kevin Garcia Rio Grande Valley FC
Hunter Gorskie San Antonio FC
Lance Laing San Antonio FC
Rubén Luna Rio Grande Valley FC
Mauro Manotas Rio Grande Valley FC
Connor Presley San Antonio FC
Manolo Sanchez San Antonio FC
Blake Smith San Antonio FC
Taiberson Rio Grande Valley FC

Competitive matches only. Players in bold are still active players with the team.

Players who played for both clubs
As of August 21, 2020[9][10]
Player Rio Grande Valley FC career San Antonio FC career
Span Apps Goals Span Apps Goals
Jesús Enríquez 2018–2019 61 10 2020 3 0
José Escalante 2016–2017 37 7 2018 24 1
Kai Greene 2016–2018 68 1 2019– 39 0
Kyle Murphy 2016–2017 56 10 2018 17 1
Charlie Ward 2016–2017 43 0 2018 12 1

Players in bold are still active players with the team.

Notes
  1. Played behind closed doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.
  2. Capacity limited due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.

References
  1. "Local squad prevails in season opener". Retrieved September 25, 2017.
  2. USL (March 26, 2017). "Who will have the bragging rights after the first South Texas Derby of the season? @RGVFC or @SanAntonioFC? #RGVvSA #RaiseYourGamepic.twitter.com/d5IqrbdpWQ". Retrieved September 25, 2017.
  3. Communications, San Antonio FC (May 7, 2016). "SAN ANTONIO FC NARROWLY FALLS TO RGVFC IN FINAL SECONDS ON SATURDAY". Retrieved September 25, 2017.
  4. "Battle for South Texas". May 8, 2016. Retrieved September 26, 2017.
  5. Communications, San Antonio FC (March 24, 2017). "SAN ANTONIO FC OPENS 2017 USL SEASON ON THE ROAD AGAINST RGV FC". Retrieved September 25, 2017.
  6. USLChampionship com Staff (June 24, 2020). "USL Championship Unveils 2020 Season Format". USL Championship.
  7. https://www.uslchampionship.com/news_article/show/1111824
  8. "San Antonio FC vs. Rio Grande Valley FC - July 19, 2020 | USLChampionship.com". uslchampionship.com.
  9. "Roster". sanantoniofc.com.
  10. "Roster". rgvfc.com.
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