South Texas Derby

First meetingMay 7, 2016Latest meetingRGV 0–0 San Antonio
2023 USLC (August 30, 2023)StatisticsMeetings total26Most winsSan Antonio (11)Top scorerÉver Guzmán (5 goals)All-time recordRio Grande Valley: 6
Drawn: 9
San Antonio: 11Largest victoryRGV 3–0 San Antonio
2016 USL (September 24, 2016)

The South Texas Derby was 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][non-primary source needed]} Both teams competed in the Western Conference of the USL Championship, the second tier of soccer in the United States. The teams were located in cities situated in South Texas and were separated by roughly 237 miles (381 km). The series ended when RGV FC ceased all soccer and business operations of December 18, 2023.^[3]

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.^[4] San Antonio came back from being down 0–2 but eventually lost to RGV as Lovejoy secured the win with a stoppage-time goal.^[5] 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.^[6]

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. Since the 2019 season, both RGV and San Antonio's derby matches have also been counted in the Copa Tejas competition that pits the four USL Championship clubs from Texas to determine the best in the state.^[7]

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.^[8] The revised 2020 schedule was released on July 2 with four scheduled South Texas Derby matches in an equal home-away format.^[9]

Both clubs moved to the Mountain Division of the USL Western Conference for the 2021 USL Championship season where RGV opened the series with a 1–0 win that pulled the club even on wins with its rival at 6 apiece.^[10][11] After a pair of 1-1 draws, San Antonio would end the season series with a 2-1 road victory over RGV giving the Alamo City club the lead in wins over their south Texas rival. The South Texas Derby would be played once again in 2021, this time as part of the 2021 USL Championship Playoffs in the Conference Semi-final round held in San Antonio. This was the first post-season Derby between the two sides. San Antonio went on to win 3-1 over RGV which advanced them to the Conference Finals for the first time in club history.^[12]

RGV ceased operations on December 18, 2023 effectively ending the derby after 8 seasons.

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 August 16, 2023^[13] 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	Santiago Patiño	San Antonio FC	4
3	Justin Dhillon	San Antonio FC	3
	Nathan	San Antonio FC
5	Juan Carlos Azócar	Rio Grande Valley FC	2
	Eric Bird	Rio Grande Valley FC
	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
	Christian Sorto	Rio Grande Valley FC
	Mitchell Taintor	San Antonio FC
17	25 players		1

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

Players who played for both clubs

As of 30 August 2023^[14][15]

Player	Rio Grande Valley FC career			San Antonio FC career
	Span	Apps	Goals	Span	Apps	Goals
Juan Carlos Azócar	2020–2021	27	7	2023-	7	0
Deshane Beckford	2019–2020	22	3	2022	15	1
Jesús Enríquez	2018–2019	61	10	2020	3	0
José Escalante	2016–2017	37	7	2018	24	1
Kai Greene	2016–2018	68	1	2019–2020	44	0
Frank López	2021–	55	10	2019	14	8
Carter Manley	2020–2021	46	2	2022–	36	3
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

References