In two home matches in June, Las Vegas Lights FC twice tallied a season-high four goals en route to a pair of victories.
Now, that success has to translate to the road. The club will play 8 of its next 10 matches away from the confines of Cashman Field, beginning Sunday at 2 p.m., when Lights FC (4-5-4, 16 points) faces perennial USL Western Conference power Swope Park Rangers (7-4-4, 25 points) at Children’s Mercy Park in Kansas City, Kan. The match will stream nationwide on ESPN+.
It will be the second of two regular season meetings between the clubs, with Lights FC having come from behind to take a 2-1 decision in Downtown Las Vegas back on March 31.
“It’s a very good team, well managed, they know what to do, and we are expecting to face the best Swope Park Rangers,” Lights FC Head Coach Isidro Sánchez said. “It’s a very fast, quick, attacking team. They have excellent attackers up front, and we have to be very aware defensively.”
Lights FC’s defensive back line will have a bit of a different look Sunday, as captain Joel Huiqui will miss the match, serving a 1-game suspension for yellow card accumulation.
No matter what Sánchez and the coaching staff opt to do to fill that void in the centerback spot, the defense will have its hands full against Swope Park.
While Rangers’ 22 goals is tied for the 7th-highest total in the USL this season, its ability to create chances is second to none, as the club leads the league in passes (8,037) and passing accuracy (83%).
The speed up top that Sánchez referred to is highlighted by forwards Kharlton Belmar and Hadji Barry, who have combined to score 13 goals this season. Belmar’s 8 goals are tied for the highest individual total in the USL.
Even though the first meeting between the two teams wasn’t a high-scoring affair, should this one go in that direction, Lights FC may be heading to Kansas City for it at just the right time.
The club is coming off of arguably its best offensive performance of the season last Saturday night against Seattle Sounders 2 – a 4-1 victory which saw Lights FC also come close to putting several more balls into the back of the net.
“We’ve just got to go out there and take this momentum from home onto the road,” said forward Sammy Ochoa, who scored two of Lights FC’s four goals last Saturday night. “Their style of play is always the same, and it’s effective. Stats don’t lie.”
A win could go a long way in kick-starting a lengthy stretch of road matches on the 2018 schedule. Lights FC currently finds itself just four points outside of the Top-8 on the Western Conference table, and another trip to the midwest awaits next Saturday night to take on Tulsa Roughnecks FC in June’s final match.
And while Lights FC looks to take positive momentum onto the road, Swope Park Rangers is coming to its home pitch looking to regain some, as it absorbed a 4-1 defeat on the road last weekend at Fresno FC.
It all adds up to what could be one of the most intriguing match-ups on the Week 15 USL slate.
“The biggest motivation they have has to be last Saturday against Fresno,” Sánchez said. “In professional football, it’s dangerous to face a team who was beaten in the previous week. With their quality, it will be difficult for them to play again like they did against Fresno.”
LIGHTS FC NOTES HEADING INTO SUNDAY:
JAMES MURPHY COMES ABOARD FOR LIGHTS FC: The latest addition to the Lights FC offensive attack became official on Friday, as the club acquired 20-year-old midfielder James Murphy on loan from Major League Soccer’s Los Angeles Football Club.
Murphy, a Scotch Plains, N.J., native, previously played for the United States U-20 Men’s National Team, and after signing with LAFC in March, made his debut for the club on May 22 in a friendly against visiting Borrussia Dortmund of Germany’s Bundesliga. He will now be eligible to play immediately for Lights FC.
“James Murphy is a talented offensive player with a good background,” Sánchez said. “He can help us, and he has a big opportunity in Las Vegas to demonstrate what he can do at the professional level.”
THE FIRST TIME AROUND … : The first meeting of the 2018 season with Swope Park Rangers doubled as Lights FC’s first USL home victory in club history on March 31.
That night, after Swope Park took an early 1-0 lead, Carlos Alvarez drove home a strike to equalize in the 53rd minute. The deciding score came in the 71st minute via a Rangers own goal. The match also featured a stellar showing in goal from Lights FC’s Ricardo Ferriño, who made several aggressive stops both within and outside of the box to help preserve the 2-1 result.
INJURY UPDATES: Forward Juan Carlos Garcia and midfielder Matt Thomas will miss Sunday’s match, as they both continue to recover from lower body injuries. Several recently ailing Lights FC palyers will all return to availability on the bench, while defender Miguel Garduño is still officially questionable with a lower body injury.
DISCIPLINE UPDATES: Serving a 1-match suspension for yellow card accumulation is defender and captain Joel Huiqui, who drew his eighth yellow card of the season last Saturday. Lights FC has two players who have four yellow cards on the season, meaning each is one yellow away from earning a 1-game accumulation suspension – midfielder Carlos Alvarez and defender Miguel Garduño.
WHO TO KNOW FOR LIGHTS FC
Forward Sammy Ochoa (#9) has surged offensively following a start to the season filled with several near-misses on goal. Ochoa is responsible for three of the eight goals Lights FC has combined to score in its last two home matches, and should draw plenty of attention from Swope Park’s back line.
Midfielder Carlos Alvarez (#7) continues to do it all in the middle of the field, leading the offensive attack for Lights FC. With four goals and three assists to his credit in USL play, he’s been the team’s top creator and finisher to this point in 2018. He’s looked even more dangerous in recent matches, as the midfield and attack has gotten healthier and continued to gel.
Goalkeeper Ricardo Ferriño (#1) returns from a 1-match yellow card accumulation suspension, and is out to continue his strong overall play in goal. He balances skill with calculated aggression when charging from the box to make plays and stymie offensive chances. His 41 goalkeeper saves are currently the sixth-highest total in the 33-team USL.
Midfielder Zach Mathers (#32) has made a big early impact in just three matches for the club as a mid-season signee. The former MLS SuperDraft pick of Seattle Sounders FC recorded an assist as a second half sub in his first Lights FC appearance on June 2, then scored the club’s fourth and final goal last Saturday night in the 4-1 victory over Seattle Sounders 2 – his former club.
WHERE TO WATCH AND LISTEN
-Sunday’s match will stream streaming nationwide on the ESPN+ app.
-The Spanish-language radio broadcast takes place on ESPN Deportes 1460 AM, and can be streamed live at LVSportsNetwork.com.
