Oalex Anderson equalized for Las Vegas in the first half, but New Mexico United pulled away late to hand the Lights a 3-1 road loss in Albuquerque.
Las Vegas Lights FC fell 3-1 on the road against New Mexico United on Saturday night at Rio Grande Credit Union Field at Isotopes Park in Albuquerque. The defeat moves the Lights to 2-4-2 on the 2026 USL Championship season.
New Mexico got on the board first in the opening half before Oalex Anderson found the equalizer for Las Vegas later in the half. The hosts responded with two second-half goals to secure all three points at home.
The Lights looked to generate chances through their attacking group, with Johnny Rodriguez and Christian Pinzón continuing to push forward in transition, but New Mexico’s defense limited opportunities in key moments. Las Vegas showed stretches of possession and attacking pressure but was unable to fully recover after falling behind early.
Las Vegas will now shift focus to its next match as the club looks to bounce back during its road stretch.
What They’re Saying
DEFENDER AARON GUILLEN
On his overall thoughts…
We knew it was going to be a tough game. It’s a tough place to come. We just need to start finding the way to come to these places and get points and get results on the road. It’s not enough to just get some wins at home. We just need to turn the page and focus on the next game, obviously, but we need to start finding the way of winning away from home.
On what defense needs to work on…
I think we just need to balance out throughout the whole field, shift as a team, and just work as a team. I think some of the times we release one by one instead of as a group, and I think we just need to be on the same page.
On what the team has to work on looking forward to Spokane Velocity…
I think the focus is just to get the result, obviously, get a positive vibe going again and just get the result, which is the most important thing.But just keep working every day like we have been for the past couple months and stay together because it’s a long season and that’s what we need.
HEAD COACH DEVIN RENSING
On his initial thoughts of the result…
Tough loss. Listen, we just got to get better. We start off slow. It takes a second for us to get going for some reason. That’s something I got to do reflection on. All in all, we just have to perform better, make smarter decisions on the ball, be tighter defensively, and be tougher. We got to be tougher.
On the lack of aggressiveness on the marking…
We got to have tighter lines and we got to be tougher going to the ball. We got to be tougher in our tackles. We got to be tougher in identifying the double team and then going in there with conviction. I thought we did it better against Lexington and we got a good result, but we didn’t tonight.
On what the team has to work on looking forward to Spokane Velocity…
Yeah, I mean, obviously we got to—we got to work on, you know, moving the ball quicker.
We have to work on bringing the ball up and making smarter decisions on the ball. And ultimately we got to be a tough team to score against.
Summary
Lights Starting XI:
Lanphier (GK), Guillen, Pope (Ofeimu, 82′), Jones, Antonoglou (Forbes, 82′), Probo, Locker, Anderson (Pickering, 77′), Okyere (Arteaga, 61′), Pinzon (C) (Mines, 77′), Rodriguez
New Mexico United Starting XI:
Arozarena (GK), Hamalainen, Keller (Gloster, 46′), Harris (Wilkerson, 75′), Reid-Stephen, Hurst (C) (Rennicks, 67′), Jabang, LaCava (Seymore, 75′), Bailey, Noel (Zelalem, 67′), Howell
Goals:
NM– Niall Reid-Stephen – 34′ assisted by Zico Bailey
LV – Oalex Anderson – 40’ assisted by Christian Pinzon
NM – Ousman Jabang – 53′ assisted by Dayonn Harris
NM – Zico Bailey – 73’ assisted by Dayonn Harris
Discipline:
LV – Yellow, Carson Locker – 31’
NM – Yellow, Zico Bailey – 68’
LV – Yellow, Giorgio Probo – 77’
LV – Yellow, Manuel Arteaga – 79’
Next Up
The Lights now turn their focus to their next match on May 17 for the next round of the USL Prinx Tires Cup against Spokane Velocity. The Lights will be back at home for their 9th Island Night on May 23rd where they will face Colorado Springs Switchbacks. Get tickets NOW at lightsfc.com/tickets.
