The Lights earn their second USL Championship victory on the road courtesy of Johnny Rodriguez and Abraham Okyere
Las Vegas Lights FC staged yet another comeback on Saturday night, this time against San Antonio FC for Week 20 of the USL Championship regular season.
The Lights found themselves behind early in the first half following a goal scored by San Antonio’s Emil Cuello in the sixth minute of action. San Antonio could’ve doubled the lead on several occasions, but goalkeeper Charles Lanphier was sharp throughout the half, making important saves that kept Vegas in the game.
The Lights managed to equalize right at the start of the second half. Oalex Anderson brilliantly assisted Johnny Rodriguez, who put the ball past Joey Batrouni to score his tenth goal of the season.
Dissatisfied with taking a point back home, Vegas pushed harder for the win. Their efforts were rewarded in the 79th minute, when midfielder Abraham Okyere won a scramble in the box and somehow pushed the ball past the goal line to give the Lights their second victory on the road this season.
It’s comeback season, and the Lights are leveraging their current form and forward-thinking mentality to continue climbing the Western Conference standings.
What They’re Saying
FORWARD JOHNNY RODRIGUEZ
On his thoughts on the team’s performance following the Lights’ 2-1 comeback win in San Antonio…
I think the boys played amazing tonight. We got scored on pretty early again, but we stuck together. We trusted the game plan. Just very, very excited and happy for the guys in there because we’ve been working so hard, and to finally come on the road and get 3 points… it goes a long way, and I’m just super excited for them, for the coaching staff, and just in general.
On handing San Antonio their first home loss and building momentum for the rest of the year…
I actually didn’t know it was their first loss until just now thatI got into the locker room. But, I mean, that’s what we want to do. We want tocome into the away stadiums and kind of spoil the party a little bit. And I think we did that and again. Just very excited, very happy for the group, for the whole staff, and for the whole team.
On how he feels after scoring his tenth goal of the season…
Good. Again, credit to my teammates. They do all the dirty work, all the hard work. Again, just very excited and trusting my work ethic and my work itself. Very excited and very happy to contribute in any way possible and hopefully there’s a lot more goals coming.
HEAD COACH DEVIN RENSING
On what he thought of the performance in the win…
Anytime you get 3 points it’s great. Great performance from the team, gutsy performance. I thought we played really, really well. You know, we did a lot of good things on the ball. We played fantastic defense. I think my assistants did a great job of putting together a game plan for the week leading to San Antonio. So shout out to them, but just all the credit in the world to the guys. They played hard. They gave it their all.
On how it feels to win against an undefeated team at home like San Antonio…
I think this is their first home loss of the season here at Toyota Field. They have a great coach, they have a great team, so anytime you get a chance to get 3 points… this just shows the quality of what we can do. We’ve just got to be smart and minimize our errors and play like that every week and we’ll get results in the end.
On Johnny Rodriguez’s performance…
To tell you the truth, I say it every week. He scores goals, but he also does things defensively. He man marks some of the biggest me on defensive set pieces… he does everything. He scores goals. He’s a great leader. He’s extremely coachable. He works his butt off, so I’m happy for Johnny. He just keeps doing what he does.
Summary
Las Vegas Lights FC Starting XI:
Lanphier (GK), Sessock, Ofeimu, Guillen, Antonoglou, Ybarra, Probo, Locker (Okyere, 71′), Pinzon (c) (Jones, 89′), Anderson (Arteaga, 80′), Rodriguez (Pope, 89′)
San Antonio FC Starting XI:
Batrouni (GK), Suarez, Barbir, Crognale (c), Ward, Cuello (Haakenson, 84′), Calov (Berron, 63′), Hernandez (Blanco, 71′), Maldonado, Hernandez (Parano, 46′), Sorto (Patiño, 63′)
Goals:
SA – Emil Cuello (assist: Hernandez) – 6′
LV – Johnny Rodriguez (assist: Anderson) – 47′
LV – Abraham Okyere – 79′
Discipline:
LV – Yellow, Giorgio Probo – 38′
LV – Yellow, Themi Antonoglou – 52′
SA – Yellow, Daniel Barbir – 59’
SA – Yellow, Emil Cuello – 65’
LV – Yellow, Aaron Guillen – 76′
SA – Red, Santiago Patiño – 76′
Next Up
The Lights play one match on the road in the league before heading back home to Cashman Field for Aces Night on August 1 against Phoenix Rising FC. Get tickets NOW at lightsfc.com/tickets.
