Despite the result, Corpus Christi held majority of the possession
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (April 4, 2026) – In Corpus Christi FC’s (CCFC) fourth straight road match, they couldn’t capitalize in the final third and drop the match to Westchester SC 5-1.
Corpus Christi FC (0-2-2) out-shot, out-passed and out-possessed Westchester (1-2-1) on the night. Westchester sat back to play a low-pressure game and capitalized on the chances they got to go forward.
“Tonight is a tough one to take. In all my 25 years of playing and coaching, I’ve never been on the end of a scoreline like this. The defensive structure we put in over the first three tough road games went completely out the window tonight,” Head Coach Éamon Zayed said.
Slow Start Again
The Sharks again struggled to get their legs under them at the start of the match. Shannon Gomez was called for a foul on Jonathan Jimenez as he cut across the box, awarding Westchester a penalty kick. Captain Conor McGlynn stepped up and put it past James Talbot for a 1-0 lead.
Just over a minute later, Westchester made it 2-nil.
A long ball down the sideline was found by Westchester’s Kyle Evans. He got behind the defense, played a ball across the face of the goal, giving Jimenez an easy look and finish.
Momentum Into the Break
It’s been a trend the last couple of matches. CCFC finds their spacing, the passing gets better and attacks start generating late in the first half. The Sharks made 18 crosses in the first half, exceeding their match average of 17 crosses a game.
Blake Bowen was one of those players, attacking from the wing, creating chances. In the final five minutes, Bowen had two shots hit the woodwork. Bowen has done well since shifting into the midfield last match.
“Not the result we wanted, but we are going to keep learning and bounce back,” Bowen said.
A breakthrough finally came in the 45+5’ when Alexis Cerritos collected a ball in the box and poked it out to Enock Kwakwa. From the top of the box, Kwakwa ripped a low shot under goalkeeper Matias Molina’s arm to bring one back for CCFC, heading to half time.
“It was not what we wanted it is hard to lose a game like this, but we will not stop grinding. I know it’s difficult on us but we will go again in two weeks time,” Kwakwa said.
“This week we worked on our attacking side and there were good performances in Cerritos and Blake Bowen tonight along with Enock’s goal,” Zayed said. “But we lost the game because of how we defended tonight. We gave up some awful goals by our own undoing.”
Final Third Struggles
CCFC held much of the possession the first 15 minutes of the second half. They were able to get off a couple shots, but none on target.
Then in the 65th minute, Molina took a restart from Westchester’s defensive third. He knocked it into CCFC territory where it took a deflection and fell to McGlynn. He settled with one touch and volleyed with his second for his second goal of the night.
CCFC didn’t threaten much on the offensive end much after that. Leyder Robledo gave the Sharks the best chance after subbing on in the 70th minute. He struck a hard-hit ball from the right side, across the face of the goal, but no one got on the end of it.
Westchester scored two more goals in quick succession in the 77th and 81st minutes. Jack Keaney was sent off with a red card in the 90+2’ for denying an obvious goal scoring chance on a breakaway.
“The only positive is that it happened now, only four games into the season,” Zayed said. “This cannot happen again. We need to get better in every department and we have two and a half weeks to do that before our next game away to Sarasota.”
CCFC will get some rest with 18 days between matches. CCFC will be on the road at Sarasota on April 22.
Notable:
-Jake Keegan made his first start of the season, his 155th career appearance in USL League One
-Enock Kwakwa scored his first goal of the season
-Alexis Cerritos earned his first assist of the season
-CCFC out-shot, out-possessed and out-passed an opponent for the first time this season
-Leyder Robledo made his USL debut
Goals: Kwakwa (1)
Assists: Cerritos (1)
Yellow Cards: Pondeca (2), Gomez (1)
Red Cards: Keaney (1)
| CORPUS CHRISTI FC | Westchester SC | |
| 14 | SHOTS | 13 |
| 3 | SHOTS ON TARGET | 9 |
| 4 | SAVES | 2 |
| 9 | FOULS | 14 |
| 7 | CORNERS WON | 2 |
| 2 | OFFSIDES | 2 |
| 2 | YELLOW CARDS | 2 |
| 1 | RED CARDS | 0 |
About Corpus Christi FC
CCFC was established in 2017 by Dr. Kingsley Okonkwo. The club previously played in USL League Two, the nation’s leading pre-professional league, and won their first Lone Star Division title in 2024. That same year, Corpus Christi was awarded a USL League One franchise and will kick off its first professional season in 2026. CCFC is building a new home at the Corpus Christi Multi-Sport Complex currently being constructed at 5102 Old Brownsville Road. Phase One of the $28.3 million complex was completed in summer 2025 and a 5,000-seat stadium, which will serve as home for all of the Sharks’ USL League One home games, is currently under construction. Follow Corpus Christi FC on their social media channels on Facebook, Instagram, X (Twitter),Tik Tok and LinkedIn.
