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El Paso’s Mark Lowry Voted Championship’s Coach of the Month

By USLChampionship.com Staff, 08/11/21, 1:30PM EDT

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Guided Locomotive FC to undefeated month and first place in Mountain Division at end of July

TAMPA, Fla. – El Paso Locomotive FC’s Mark Lowry has been voted the USL Championship’s Coach of the Month for July, claiming the award after leading his side to an undefeated month that saw the side record five wins in six games, move to the top of the Mountain Division with a six-point advantage over its nearest rival, and into contention for the most points in the Championship overall, a position it now holds following Week 16’s games.

Appointed the Head Coach and Technical Director of Locomotive FC following the club’s launch in 2018, Lowry has led the side to the Western Conference Final of the USL Championship Playoffs in each of the club’s first two seasons in the league. This season, El Paso has recorded the fewest defeats of any team in the Championship – falling only once on June 30 to Rio Grande Valley FC, which sits second in the Mountain Division – while extending the club’s home undefeated streak to 18 games across the regular season and playoffs.

“I think it’s a credit to the guys, how hard they’ve worked and the sustained success they’ve had, and the staff, Matt [Williams], Dom [Cascatio], JC [Garzon], Saul [Soto], Ricardo [Ruiz] and Nate [Soto], those guys make my job a lot easier on a daily basis,” said Lowry. “It feels good to be top after the halfway point, we also want to be top and want to stay there, get to the top of the Mountain Division and to the top of the whole standings. The hard part is staying there, but I don’t think it’s just this season. This has been a continued effort from Day 1 to get to where we are now, two-and-a-half years of preparation, of work on the field every day, sticking with the process, believing in what we do.”

During the past month, Lowry’s side took an important 2-1 home victory on July 3 against rival New Mexico United to start the month, and also earned a notable 2-1 victory on the road against San Antonio FC on July 28. Locomotive FC now leads the Championship with eight shutouts this season while only conceding only 10 times and is tied for seventh in the league with 26 goals, an at improvement at both ends on the club’s total goals (24) and total goals conceded (14) during the truncated 16-game 2020 regular-season campaign over the same number of games.

The sustained success and refinement of the way the club has approached games speaks to the message that Lowry has instilled in his USL Championship Final-contending squad.

“I think the consistency in how we play comes from the coaching staff saying the same message as we did on Day 1 as we say now, valuing the ball, those things, all the time trying to tweak it, though, to get better at it and find a way to score more goals along the way,” said Lowry. “The game is about scoring goals and stopping goals. First, we did a great job stopping goals, now we’re creating chances, scoring multiple goals per game, so it’s been taking that philosophy and tweaking it along the way.”

Lowry received 52 percent of the vote to take the third monthly award of the season. Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC’s Bob Lilley finished in second on 18 percent after leading the Hounds to four wins in five games during an undefeated month, while Louisville City FC’s Danny Cruz finished third on 17 percent after leading his side to a 5-1-1 record that saw the club record 16 goals across its seven games.

The USL Championship’s Coach of the Month award is voted upon by the USL Championship National Media Panel and the USL Championship Technical Committee, with each group responsible for 50 percent of the overall vote.

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