Have you noticed what’s been happening to San Antonio FC?

The San Antonio FC that devoured teams with its directness in the league on the way to claiming the USL Championship title last season?

Somewhere along the way Head Coach Alen Marcina’s side seems to have found a little bit of patience. On Saturday night it got a just reward after as dominant display as it might have produced all season.

Defeating Orange County SC 4-0 at Toyota Field, everything clicked into place as it had regularly earlier this season. Tani Oluwaseyi and the recently returned Nathan Fogaça each had a goal and assist, the set pieces were on point as Jorge Hernández notched his league-leading 10th assist of the season, and SAFC not only earned itself a fourth consecutive trip to the playoffs, but both built a cushion to the teams below it in the standings and narrowed the gap to first-place Sacramento Republic FC to just a point.

“We’ve been proud of our performances,” said SAFC Head Coach Alen Marcina, whose side had drawn five times in a six-game winless run prior to its win against OCSC. “Tonight, we said we’ve got to dominate both boxes. In our box we’ve got to be focused and smart, to make good decisions, and then in the opponent’s box we say we have to be focused and ruthless. Wanting to score goals. And tonight, they executed flawlessly.”

And they did so through one of their best passing displays in a while. SAFC posted a 78.5 percent passing accuracy rate against Orange County – its second-highest mark in a game this season – while playing the second-fewest long passes (40) it has in a game this year.

It’s part of a trend that has maintained the urgency that has been so effective but provided more consistency and incisiveness in moving possession up the field. In each of the past eight games, SAFC has fired off fewer than its season average of 59.6 long passes per game, a strategy that with its 32.9 percent completion rate this season was starting to deliver diminishing returns in the big picture.

“We knew coming into this week that if we got a lead, especially going into the second half, that there was no way they were taking that out of our hands,” said Oluwaseyi. “We battled through, right up until the end and we were able to come away with the victory.

“That’s just how it is as football players. You go through different experiences and situations and scenarios and what separates good players from great players, or good teams from great teams, is learning from your mistakes, learning from what you did wrong and just making sure you don’t do it again.”

With its combination of urgency and quality working in tandem, San Antonio could be primed for another postseason run to remember.