San Antonio FC Head Coach Alen Marcina put a brave face on his side’s 2-1 defeat to New Mexico United on Saturday night at Isotopes Park.

“I think the guys gave it a valiant effort,” said Marcina. “They fought until the very end. We had some good moments in the game. It’s difficult when you’re working with 50 percent of the roster and we get an injury in warmups, but what I’m most proud of with this group and why I’m very optimistic with this group is we don’t make excuses. These guys have each other’s back.”

As usual, Marcina makes plenty of salient points.

San Antonio is dinged up at the moment. On Saturday’s pregame injury report you had the absences of starting goalkeeper Pablo Sisniega, midfielder Lucas Silva – who has had bright moments in his nine appearances this season – and Burkina Faso international Trova Boni.

On top of that, the side had to contend with the absence due to suspension of assists leader Jorge Hernandez and All-League defender Mitchell Taintor being a late add to the injury report after sustaining a knock in warmups.

And yet, there’s something that feels off about this San Antonio side compared to the level we’ve seen in the past three campaigns. Luke Haakenson’s finish off a dime of an assist by Kevon Lambert put the visitors ahead in brilliant fashion in the 21st minute, but from there San Antonio was outmaneuvered by a New Mexico side that appears to have taken its place as the biggest rival to Sacramento Republic FC for first place in the Western Conference this season.

A brilliant piece of skill by Greg Hurst that was rewarded by a fortunate carom to Nanan Houssou to equalize was followed by a thunderbolt in first-half stoppage time by Hurst himself to put New Mexico ahead by the break. And then, when the chips were down, SAFC failed to record a shot in the final half-hour of the game, its last official effort on goal a tame header by Juan Agudelo in the 59th minute that was easily cleared.

When the dust settled, SAFC had lost for a second time in its past four league outings after scoring first – a streak that had previously stretched three full seasons in which SAFC had earned at least a win or a draw when striking first – and was languishing in seventh place in the West, eight points off New Mexico’s pace.

That’s not the only area for concern for San Antonio, either. One-third of the way through the campaign it’s overachieving in its finishing with 16 goals on 11.87 Expected Goals – something that could be sustainable, but certainly could regress – and at the same time the side is leaking goals, conceding 14 times on a mark of 9.88 Expected Goals Against – the silver lining here being that could be expected to improve.

But what feels most striking is the fear factor and inevitability that San Antonio would find a way is evaporating. The retirement of Connor Maloney this offseason alongside the departures of Jordan Farr, Fabien Garcia, and PC and the transfer of Santiago Patiño early this year leaves only Taintor as the avatar of the “Mentality Monsters” that won the Championship title two seasons ago.

There is still time, and make no mistake, San Antonio will endeavor to find a way back to the top of the Western Conference. Marcina is too good a coach to let this slide become permanent.

“We know we’ll get through this adversity,” said Marcina. “We know we’ll get the numbers back health-wise, and we know we’ll bring in some additional players as well, and when that happens, we know we’ll meet our goals and objectives by the end of the season.”

The aura that San Antonio had as the side that was the most difficult to beat in the Championship, though?

Right now that’s gone, and it’s going to take something special to bring it back.