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SAN ANTONIO, Texas  (July 4, 2012) - The San Antonio Scorpions defeated the FC Edmonton and extended their first place lead with a 1-0 shutout victory on the 4th of July at Heroes Stadium.

A crowd of 9,115 was on hand for the match as the Scorpions have gone unbeaten in their last seven home matches.

Forward Esteban Bayona picked up the lone goal for the Scorpions in the second half, which proved to be enough to give San Antonio its fourth win in five matches.

The Scorpions will now go back on the road for a short two-game trip, beginning with a showdown with the second-place Puerto Rico Islanders on Wednesday, July 11. San Antonio currently has a four-point advantage over Puerto Rico in the NASL standings at the halfway mark of the season.

"Next week is going to be a war," said Head Coach Tim Hankinson. "Puerto Rico is going to fight for that first place position and then we have a quick turnaround with a match against Fort Lauderdale."

The Scorpions went on the attack early when forward Pablo Campos passed the ball into the Edmonton box to a streaking Hans Denissen, but his shot towards goal bounced off the near post in the 4th minute.

FC Edmonton responded to the San Antonio strike a minute later, when forward Shaun Saiko put a shot on goal that was collected safely by Scorpions goalkeeper Daryl Sattler.

Both teams played staunch defense to limit many scoring opportunities in the first half and went into halftime scoreless.

That all changed in the opening minutes of the second half as the Scorpions came out with a new intensity on offense, outshooting and outgunning the Eddies with a number of close chances to take the lead.

In the 49th minute, Scorpions midfielder Walter Ramirez started the offensive barrage by blasting a shot on goal from 30 yards away, but that ball deflected off the crossbar.

The Scorpions kept the pressure on the Edmonton defense in search of their first goal. Forward Pablo Campos, the team leader in goals scored, went one-on-one with FC Edmonton goalkeeper Lance Parker in the 53rd minute, but his chip shot over Parker just went wide of the goal.

In the 66th minute, the Scorpions broke through when forward Esteban Bayona knocked a header from a perfectly-placed cross by defensive midfielder Jonathan Greenfield past Parker. The goal was the fourth of the season for Bayona, who has scored a goal for San Antonio in each of their past four matches.

"You've got to give a lot credit to Bayona. The players who work hard get rewarded and right now he's one of those guys," said Hankinson.

The Scorpions defensed turned in another solid performance, with the Eddies getting only four shots for the night with just two of them making their way on goal.

Sattler stopped both shots on goal and recorded his league-high eighth shutout of the season, improving his league-best goals against average to 0.55.

San Antonio has not allowed a goal at home in a regular season NASL match since their 2-2 draw with the Fort Lauderdale Strikers on April 21.