The Las Vegas Lights are visiting Loudoun United on Friday in their first and only meeting of the season. Here is everything you need to know:
WHEN AND WHERE: Kickoff is Friday, June 14 at 4:00 p.m. PT at Segra Field in Leesburg, Va.
WHERE TO WATCH: The match will be available to watch locally on SSSEN and streamed nationally on ESPN+ (subscription required).
2024 RECORDS AND STANDINGS: Las Vegas: 4-7-3 (15 points, 10th West), Loudoun: 5-6-2 (17 points, 7th East)
FORM GUIDE (all competitions, most recent first): Lights: WDLDD, Loudoun: WWWLL
PREVIOUS MEETING: Loudoun United defeated the Lights 3-0 on Aug. 12, 2023, at Cashman Field in Las Vegas. Kalil ElMedkhar, Wesley Leggett and Houssou Landry scored for the visitors.
TEAM OF THE WEEK: Lights Head Coach Dennis Sanchez, forward Khori Bennett and midfielder Valentin Noël were all named to the Week 14 USL Championship Team of the Week for their efforts in Las Vegas’s 3-1 win over Miami FC last weekend. Lights defender Gennaro Nigro also earned a spot on the bench.
MONUMENTAL WIN: After last week’s victory, Las Vegas now has four wins less than halfway through the season, one more that the club had all of last year.
SHUTOUT STREAK: Loudoun enters Friday on the back of three consecutive clean sheets. They’ve conceded just four times total over the last six matches.
PLAYER TO WATCH: Florian Valot, M
The veteran midfielder does just about everything for Loudoun and has proved a key offseason acquisition for Head Coach Ryan Martin. Valot, who joined from Miami FC after four seasons in Major League Soccer, has three goals and three assists, 16 chances created and is 10th in the USL Championship in passes.
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING
Las Vegas Lights forward Khori Bennett
On his brace last weekend…
It was a good performance, but I know there are things that I can still improve on and be more consistent with those types of performances. Going over film, going over the things I did well, these are ways I can try to bring it into the next game.
Las Vegas defender Gennaro Nigro
On starting off an important stretch of four homes games in five matches with a win over Miami FC last weekend…
It felt great. It’s been a long time coming. We’ve been putting in really solid performances, especially in the games that we drew and the game that we lost by a really small margin in Tampa. It’s been a crescendo in the past five, even six, weeks where our performances have continued to grow game by game and we’ve been unlucky with a lot of the results that we’ve had. Last week was the climax point and hopefully a continuation moving forward in a big stretch against two conference rivals and a big trip east this weekend.
Las Vegas Lights Head Coach Dennis Sanchez
On what he expects from the Loudoun United match this weekend…
Loudoun is a good side. They’re well-coached and organized with Ryan Martin there. They have a pretty clear identity, they’re really well-balanced. They don’t have one specific player scoring 15, 20 goals, but they’re getting goals from a lot of different places and are really defensively sound. They haven’t given up a goal in the last three games. We’re coming in with full expectations that this is going to be a difficult match. As always, we’re going to respect our opponent, but at the same time, play our way and go out and have a strong performance.
