Locomotive FC eye No. 1 seed after securing home-field advantage

EL PASO, Texas ( KTSM ) — El Paso Locomotive FC secured home-field advantage for the first round of the USL Championship playoffs with a 2-1 victory over Orange County SC on Saturday. However, the team is approaching its last two matches of the season with a "prove it" mentality, as their main goal is to secure the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference.

"We have that mentality of we haven't done anything, and I think that's what's keeping us performing," said Locomotive FC defender, Ricky Ruiz. "Knowing that we have a goal to reach and nothing's accomplished yet. We were in this position last year where we clinched a home playoff spot, and we all know how that worked out. So nothing's nothing's accomplished yet. I think everybody [on the team] knows the situation we're in, so no one's satisfied and we're we're still hungry for more."

After briefly stumbling to begin October play with a 3-1 loss to Lexington SC that ended a historic nine-game unbeaten streak, Saturday's win kept the Locos on track to push for the top spot in the West.

"[It was] very important to stop the bleeding. You take a bad result and then you get back on it and say, 'okay, this is who we are. This is our mentality,'" said Locomotive FC Head Coach Junior Gonzalez.

Currently, El Paso sits atop the West with 50 points with only two matches left in the regular season, but securing all six points and the No. 1 seed won't be easy. Their last two opponents will be Sacramento Republic FC — third in the West — whom the Locos are only five points ahead of in the standings, and rival New Mexico United — second in the West — whom they lead by only a point.

However Gonzalez said these opponents are the perfect tests ahead of the playoffs.

"We're up for the challenge. We're excited. I was telling the guys today on video we want to play top teams. We want to show that we can beat those top teams here at the tail end of the season to prepare us for what's to come in the postseason," Gonzalez said.

Saturday's match against Sacramento kicks off at 7 p.m. at Southwest University Park. You can also stream the match on ESPN+.