Oalex Anderson and Johnny Rodriguez scored in the last 25 minutes to earn the Lights three points at Cashman Field
Las Vegas Lights FC extended their unbeaten streak following a crucial victory over Brooklyn FC at Cashman Field on Saturday night.
The visiting team took the lead early in the game through team captain J.C. Obregon. Christopher Olney Jr. capitalized on a turnover inside the box and assisted the Honduran forward, who shot unmarked to make things 1-0 for the New York side.
The Lights attacked incessantly during the remainder of the first 45 minutes and into the second half without finding the net. But that would change in the 69th minute when Venezuelan forward Manuel Arteaga’s clinically headed the ball towards Oalex Anderson, who scored to make things level with enough time ahead to turn things around.
And turn things around is precisely what the team did. Full back Nyk Sessock assisted Johnny Rodriguez, whose deflected shot from outside the box slid past goalkeeper Lukas Burns to earn the Lights three beautiful points at home as the team continues their pursuit of a playoff berth.
What They’re Saying
FORWARD JOHNNY RODRIGUEZ
On his thoughts on the team’s performance tonight…
Just buzzing, you know. Happy for the group, happy for the entire locker room, the staff, front office, the players, everybody, the fans… just super, super excited and super happy for everybody. We’re on a high right now, we’re just going to keep rolling, hopefully.
On whether there’s a better feeling than scoring a winner in the final moments of a game…
No. Not really. Thankfully, my job is to score goals, and scoring a game winner, especially at home… seeing my teammates’ reactions, my coach’s reactions, the fans’ reactions, it’s what I live for. I want to help the team win and thankfully we’ve been able to find the back of the net tonight. We keep going.
On how the team feels about the seven match unbeaten streak…
Just super excited. Like I mentioned, we’re in a kind of high right now. We’re going to keep going and keep pushing each other every single day at training. We’re on the road again this upcoming weekend. We’re going to enjoy tonight a little bit and come back on Monday, focus on Lexington, and hopefully we come back with eight straight matches.
HEAD COACH DEVIN RENSING
On what he thought of the performance in the win…
It’s not easy to win games in this league. We made a mistake early, but the guys stuck with it and fought to the very end. It was a big-time performance. So really, really happy for them, and really happy that we could get 3 points at home in front of our fans.
On the Lights’ attacking trio delivering on the team’s most recent matches and how difficult it is to leave one of them on the bench…
We’re going to need all three of them. We’re going to have to go deep. These guys put a lot of running into the game. All three of those guys are great players, great goal scorers, and they score in timely moments. As a coach, it’s a good position to be in… tough decisions that I have to make, but that’s part of the job. But all three of those guys… I have utmost confidence in all of them.
On how he feels at this point of the season…
Our objective is to make the playoffs. We haven’t done anything yet. I think that we’re in a good moment, and it’s important to be in a good moment at this time of the year. So we just need to stay humble, stay hungry, and continue to put performances out like that.
Summary
Las Vegas Lights FC Starting XI:
Lanphier (GK), Sessock, Ofeimu, Guillen, Antonoglou, Probo, Ybarra (Okyere, 62′), Locker (Arteaga, 62′), Pinzon (c), Anderson (Jones, 90+2′), Rodriguez (Pope, 90+2′)
Brooklyn FC Starting XI:
Burns (GK), Alves (Nishikawa, 73′), Romeo, McLaughlin (Latinovich, 80′), Frogson, Obregon (c) (Mangione, 80′), Anderson, Olney Jr., Okiyoshi (Pinto, 55′), Vancaeyezeele, Da Silva (Servania, 55′)
Goals:
BKN – J.C. Obregon (assist, Olney Jr. – 3’
LV – Oalex Anderson (assist: Manuel Arteaga) – 69′
LV – Johnny Rodriguez (assist: Nyk Sessock) – 87′
Discipline:
LV – Yellow, Ybarra– 14’
BKN – Yellow, Alves – 19’
BKN – Yellow, Frogson– 65’
LV – Yellow, Antonoglou – 83’
BKN – Yellow, Latinovich – 90’
Next Up
The Lights will face Charleston Battery at Cashman Field for Throwback Night on Wednesday, August 29. Get tickets now at lightsfc.com/tickets.
