The Lights are looking to complete the season sweep of Orange County SC on Saturday night, after a 1-0 league home victory and a 3-1 away Jagermeister Cup win earlier in the season.
Read on to discover the keys to victory for a critical away match against Orange County.
Match: Las Vegas Lights FC (5-3-8, 8th in Western Conference) vs Orange County SC (5-2-7, 10th in Eastern Conference)
When: Saturday, July 19th
Where: Championship Soccer Stadium, Irvine, CA
Kickoff: 7:00 p.m. PT
How to Watch: FOX 5, ESPN+
The Six-Pointer Stretch Continues
With midseason just past us (the team has finished 16 out of 30 regular season games), an absolutely critical stretch of Western Conference games is upon us.
Over the course of five weeks in July and August, the Lights have four of their fives matches on the road, and all five are against Western Conference opponents. With the team sitting precariously in the final playoff position, taking points off these conference opponents is critical.
At the end of the season, the team may look back on this five-game stretch as the point in the season where the tides turned – either positively or negatively.
In the first match of this 5-game stretch, the team lost a heartbreaker in stoppage time to FC Tulsa. With Orange County up next, who sit two places below the Lights but with two games in hand, it is massively important for the team to take at least a point on the road.
Away matches in the USL Championship are difficult propositions, but the Lights need points from this stretch to keep themselves within shouting distance of the higher playoff spots.
Keys to the Match
Here are the three keys to look out for on Saturday night in Irvine.
Danger from Wide Players
In the final minute of the first half against FC Tulsa, Las Vegas’ two wingbacks – Shawn Smart and Gennaro Nigro – combined right on top of the box for a stunning equalizer.
While the goal itself (a 16-pass sequence) was stunning for its timing, it was also stunning to see the Lights two wingbacks combining in and around the box. Ostensibly, these two players should be providing the width in attack and dumping in crosses.
However, against Tulsa, Interim Head Coach Giovanni Troise gave them both the freedom to follow their instincts and play inverted when the situation called for it. This enabled both players to create overloads in the middle of the pitch alongside central attacking players like Johnny Rodriguez, Stefan Stojanovic, Valentin Noel, and Patrick Leal.
If the Lights want to continue seeing the attacking success they saw against Tulsa, releasing the wingbacks to be creative in the half spaces will be key.
Man on Fire
Johnny Rodriguez has three goals in five matches since Troise took over leadership of the team. He has six goals in the league and seven goals including all competitions.
When the Lights shocked the league this offseason by acquiring Rodriguez from the Oakland Roots – the only professional club the 27-year-old had ever played for – they were hoping for exactly this type of production.
Rodriguez has been clinical with a relatively low number of opportunities. Since the attacking freedom began under Troise, he’s unlocked a new level of production and is on pace for yet another season of 12+ goals.
Beyond that, the striker now has a partner who can help with holdup play in Stefan Stojanovic. Since settling in with Vegas, Stojanovic has begun partnering Rodriguez up front in a two-striker system. This has been a welcome addition for Rodriguez, who has spent large stretches of 2025 as an isolated figure up front.
Watch out for the developing chemistry between Rodriguez and Stojanovic on Saturday night.
An Underperforming Attack
Orange County’s attack is pretty good. However, the basic statistics may fool on first glance.
They don’t score as many goals as they should, as they are third in the league for big chances missed. In reality, they’ve scored 18 goals, which is on the lower end of attacking output for the Western Conference.
However, this does indicate that they generate many chances per match. In fact, they outshot the Lights in their previous two matches.
They have likely been a mix of unlucky and wasteful in front of goal, but tonight could be the night when they’re more fortunate than usual if the Lights defense does not close spaces appropriately and respect the danger of the OC attackers.