One of the most anticipated home dates this season for Las Vegas Lights Football Club will also come on the heels of the club’s most inspiring performance in its brief history.
Despite playing one man down for nearly 80 minutes on Monday night on the road, Lights FC (2-1-3, 9 points) dug deep to battle one of the Western Conference’s top outfits – Real Monarchs SLC – to a gritty 0-0 draw.
The result gave the team a much-needed shot in the arm as it now returns home for a Cinco de Mayo soccer party, Saturday night at Cashman Field, with Tulsa Roughnecks FC (0-3-3, 3 points) coming to town. Saturday’s match is presented by Modelo.
The Zappos Tailgate Saturday night begins at 5:30 p.m., and the match kicks at 8 p.m., with tickets still available and starting at just $15 at LightsFC.com/SingleTix. Headlining the wave of Cinco de Mayo festivities and promotions, the first 5,000 fans in attendance at the match will receive a free Lights FC luchador wrestling mask.
On top of a festive and fun atmosphere, fans can expect an inspired effort from Lights FC following Monday’s performance, which brought the team closer in the face of adversity.
“I think more than the point that we won – or the two points we lost – I think what we really won was the confidence between the group,” Lights FC forward Juan Carlos Garcia said. “We did whatever it took to get the job done. For me, that’s what was remarkable in the game Monday. We did our jobs at our best, and that result was not about the point, but how we got the point.”
In going above-and-beyond Monday night, several individual performances stood out. Garcia and defender/captain Joel Huiqui stepped up both physically and intellectually as leaders on the field. Midfielder Carlos Alvarez played four different positions during the course of the match. Defender Miguel Garduño repeatedly shadowed Monarchs attacker Sebastian Velasquez to keep his opportunities limited. Goalkeeper Ricardo Ferriño faced consistent offensive attacks and made multiple daring saves to record his first clean sheet of the season.
That draw in Utah came less than 72 hours after the club suffered its first USL regular season loss last Friday night at home against San Antonio FC. On top of the inspiration drawn from Monday’s showing, another motivating factor for the team is paying back its home fans following a down showing last Friday.
“It’s important, because we have this fire burning inside of us, everyone, about the fans getting a very poor performance last week, so we were really upset with ourselves,” Lights FC Head Coach Isidro Sánchez said. “To the fans, we have to give them a lot more. We were humble, disciplined and intelligent in Monday’s game.”
The emotional boost coming into the match will be valuable for a Lights FC squad that will be playing its third game in eight days after a stop-and-go opening portion to its 2018 USL schedule.
“We saw another, a new, Las Vegas Lights had this desire and hunger,” Sánchez said of Monday night. “We are proud of this team and these players.”
LIGHTS FC NOTES HEADING INTO SATURDAY NIGHT:
CINCO DE MAYO TRIBUTE: Lights FC players and coaches will have several tributes to the significance of and the story behind Cinco de Mayo Saturday night. The most prominent will be in the form of outfits the team will wear during starting introductions before the match. The players will be wearing clothing over their kits that pays tribute to the Mexican heroes who defended the country against the French empire in the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862. Puebla is the hometown of Lights FC Technical Director Chelís, Head Coach Isidro Sánchez and forward Anuar Kanan. Chelís recorded a special video to explain the significance of Cinco de Mayo to him and the entire team, and to display the outfit himself.
DISCIPLINE UPDATES: After missing Monday’s match following a red card send-off last Friday night vs. San Antonio FC, defender/midfielder Christian Torres will be available again for Lights FC. However, defender Marcelo Alatorre will serve a 1-match suspension for his red card received in the 18th minute of Monday’s match. Meanwhile, defender Miguel Garduño and defender/captain Joel Huiqui are both still sitting at four yellow cards on the season, meaning each is one yellow away from a 1-match accumulation suspension. Huiqui has played two straight matches without acquiring one, while Garduño has gone one. Players must go five consecutive matches without earning a yellow card in order to have one taken off of their count.
MULTIPLE VEGAS-TULSA CONNECTIONS: There will be several intertwining connections between these two clubs when they meet Saturday night. Starting on the Las Vegas side, both forward Sammy Ochoa and midfielder Julian Portugal are former players within the Tulsa Roughnecks FC organization. Ochoa scored 20 goals for Tulsa in 54 combined appearances in 2015 & 2016, while Portugal had nine appearances for Tulsa in the 2015 season. On the other side, Tulsa Roughnecks FC forward Joaquin Rivas will be returning home to play in front of friends and family. Rivas played college soccer in his back yard at UNLV from 2010-13, and five goals in 32 appearances combined between last season and this season with Tulsa.
INJURY UPDATES: Rounding back into form physically still is forward Juan Jose Calderon, who is working his way back from a lower body injury suffered in the preseason. He will miss Saturday’s match, while still questionable will be midfielder Alex Mendoza, who missed the team’s last two matches with a lower body injury.
WHO TO KNOW FOR LIGHTS FC
Defender Joel Huiqui (#3) continues to be the unquestioned leader on the field for Lights FC through six regular season matches. The anchor of the team’s stout back line, the captain for each regular season match so far and also the scorer of two goals, the Mexican National Team captain continues to do it all. In Monday’s draw, he acted as a coach on the field for Lights FC as the team survived nearly 80 minutes of 10-on-11 play without allowing a goal.
Midfielder Carlos Alvarez (#7) has been one of the club’s top performers to start its inaugural season, with a goal and two assists in four matches. Especially with midfielder Daigo Kobayashi missing the team’s last two games due to injury, Alvarez has provided consistency within the team’s attack while flashing play-making abilities of all kinds. In Monday’s draw at Real Monarchs SLC, he showed his versatility, playing multiple positions with his team shorthanded.
Goalkeeper Ricardo Ferriño (#1) continues to steady his overall play in goal, balancing skill with calculated aggression when charging from the box to make plays and stymie offensive chances. His 21 goalkeeper saves give him the third-highest individual total in the USL so far this season, and those include two acrobatic, diving stops Monday to complete his first clean sheet of the year.
WHO TO KNOW FOR TULSA ROUGHNECKS FC
Forward Joaquin Rivas (#11) is returning home to Las Vegas, where he also starred at UNLV from 2010-13. He is the club’s leading scorer this season, with three goals in six matches.
Midfielder Michael Binns (#21) is a skillful, 20-year-old midfielder, who this season returned from playing professionally in Jamaica to make a nice add to the Tulsa attack.
Forward Fernando Arce (#20) has been an aggressive force up front, and much like Lights FC’s Sammy Ochoa, has been able to get off plenty of shots and feels on the verge of breaking through with his first goal of the season soon.
HERE IS EVERYTHING ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW AHEAD OF SATURDAY’S MATCH VS. TULSA ROUGHNECKS FC:
- Friday’s match kicks off at 8 p.m. For on-site ticket purchase at Cashman Field, the box office will open at 12 p.m., and Will Call opens at 4:30 p.m.
- The expanded Zappos Tailgate Party, featuring Lights FC’s own “Cash the Soccer Rocker,” live music, a variety of food trucks, an experiential beer garden from Motley Brews and tailgate games for both kids and adults begins at 5:30 p.m. in the Cashman parking lot. The Zappos Tailgate is FREE for fans to attend.
- Gates to the stadium for general public entry open at 7 p.m., with three available entrances at Cashman Field: The Main Gate, the Zappos Gate and the Stadium Corner Gate.
WHERE TO WATCH AND LISTEN:
- The match will air locally on myLVTV. myLVTV is available locally over the air (Channel 21), on COX (Channel 12, 1012 in HD), on Centurylink (Channel 21) and on DirecTV (Channel 21). It will stream nationwide on the new ESPN+ app.
- The Spanish-language radio broadcast takes place on ESPN Deportes 1460 AM, and can be streamed live at LVSportsNetwork.com.
