It had to be him.

From the moment his arrival home to Monterey Bay F.C. was announced last December, the anticipation of Walmer Martinez leading the club into its inaugural season in the USL Championship had been building.

On Saturday night, when the moment presented itself, he seized it, and wrote a memorable first chapter in the club’s history at the newly-renovated Cardinale Stadium.

“I looked up to see if I had anyone, and I didn’t have anyone but the open goal,” said Martinez. “I thought to myself, ‘I’m going to take it,’ and I stuck it.”

The El Salvador international’s spectacular second-half finish against Las Vegas Lights FC, driving in from the right flank before unleashing a powerful shot to the top-right corner of the net to bring the crowd of 5,038 fans to their feet and earn a 1-0 victory, provided the crowning moment on a tremendous night for soccer in the Monterey Bay region. The atmosphere at the scenic new addition to the USL Championship’s growing roster of soccer-specific stadiums lived up to expectation and the side – regaining key pieces from injury after an arduous seven-game road trip – rose to the occasion.

Coming off its defeat to San Antonio FC the prior weekend, the reset to the season in its home opener provided the antidote to what had ailed MBFC in recent weeks.

“Very happy,” said Monterey Bay Head Coach Frank Yallop. “It’s been a long stretch of away games, to finally get to play in front of fans in our stadium was really good. I thought the guys performed really well. They could’ve come out a bit nervous if you think about it, so for me I am really happy with the performance and to get that win. We should’ve probably scored a couple more goals, but we hung in there and got the win and that’s the most important thing.”

Monterey Bay will continue to get familiar with its new surroundings over the next few weeks. Four of the club’s next five games are at Cardinale Stadium, as are eight of its next 11 into late July. How the side fares over that stretch could determine whether there’s the same happy ending to the end of the season as there was on opening night.

In terms of a first impression, though, the hosts couldn’t have asked for much more.

“We limited a lot of chances,” said Yallop. “This Las Vegas team has scored a lot of goals this year and we limited their chances. I also thought we created some good chances to score. We didn’t quite take them, but we got the one. Walmer [Martínez] scored a hell of a goal to win the game for us.

“I’m not sure there’s a better story for us to start our home stretch.”