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TACOMA, Wash. – Some home cooking next Saturday night will come at the perfect time for Las Vegas Lights FC.
The club now returns from a week spent in the Pacific Northwest, which concluded Thursday night with a 3-0 setback at Seattle Sounders 2.
The busiest month of Light’s FC’s 2018 USL schedule lies ahead, with six matches in August, including three at Cashman Field, where the team returns home having won its last three before the lengthy July road swing.
“We knew that exactly what happened tonight could happen,” Lights FC Head Coach Isidro Sánchez said. “I’ll need to clean my mind first and then think about how we will solve and face these upcoming games.”
Following a huge 2-1 victory over Portland Timbers 2 on Sunday afternoon to start off the Pacific Northwest trip, Lights FC (6-9-5, 23 points) had an unfortunate start in Tacoma.
In the second minute, Seattle’s Antonee Burke-Gilroy was the first to put his team’s collective speed into play, as he brought a solo attack into the Lights FC zone. Against a charging Ricardo Ferriño, he chipped a ball over the top, finding the back of the net and put the visitors in an early hole.
Ferriño would get a chance to redeem himself about 20 minutes later, when Seattle was awarded a penalty kick, which could have created a tough 2-0 hole for Lights FC. However, he read the attempt nicely, diving to his right to poke it away and keep Lights FC in range – The team’s top highlight of the evening.
But a second yellow card issued to Marcelo Alatorre in the 45th minute, followed by a straight red card given to captain Carlos Alvarez just a minute later during stoppage time, put Lights FC in a deeper-than-usual 1-0 hole at halftime.
Playing two men down in the final 45 minutes, Lights FC would fight admirably, and even found itself with a couple of clean scoring chances off of set pieces and on the counter-attack. But the personnel advantage meant more scoring chances for Sounders 2, who buried two in the second half – A David Estrada penalty kick score in the 68th minute, then a Lamar Neagle score four minutes later.
Despite the tough result to close out the July schedule, the team now gets a bit of rest during a weekend away from match action. Lights FC also still finds itself just six points outside of the Top-8 on the USL Western Conference table with 14 matches left to play and a playoff berth still within sight.
Lights FC left for its July road match stretch having won three straight games on home turf at Cashman Field – the last victory coming on Saturday, July 7, over Saint Louis FC, 1-0.
It starts the busy-yet-crucial month of August next Saturday against Rio Grande Valley FC Toros.
The club’s home return kicks off at 8 p.m. at Cashman Field. Tickets are available, starting at just $15, at LightsFC.com. The night will also feature free backpacks – courtesy of Boston Dental Group – for the first 2,000 kids 12 and under in attendance. For full details of all special August “Saturday Night Lights” promotions, visit LightsFC.com/August.
