Themi Antonoglou scored his first goal for the Lights to help the team earn a point at Cashman Field for Week 22 of the USL Championship regular season.
Las Vegas Lights FC earned a point against Phoenix Rising (1-1) at Cashman Field on Saturday night.
Vegas took the lead early through Themi Antonoglou. The Canadian left back’s shot got deflected by a Phoenix defender and hovered past experienced goalkeeper Patrick Rakovsky to make things 1-0 for the home side.
Phoenix levelled the score towards the end of the first half following an unfortunate deflection on Lights center back Benjamin Ofeimu that caused an own goal.
The second half was highly competitive, with both teams fighting it out for a vital win. The duel ended in a stalemate, with the Lights and Phoenix dividing honors in a hot Vegas night.
What They’re Saying
DEFENDER THEMI ANTONOGLOU
On his overall thoughts on the match…
We knew it was going to be a difficult match coming into this game. Credit to the team, putting in a good shift with hot weather outside.
And now we just have to look forward because we have a quick turnaround onto Oakland on Wednesday.
On how he felt about his first goal…
I feel good. I seen Oalex (Anderson) and Johnny (Rodriguez) in the box, and I just tried to put it in a good area, and luckily it caught the keeper off guard, so I was happy with that.
Unfortunately, we didn’t get the 3 points, so it could be a little bit better feeling, but still on with my first goal in the box.
HEAD COACH DEVIN RENSING
On his overall thoughts on the match…
Disappointed not to get 3 points. I think we took our foot off the pedal with the energy piece a little bit, and I think that’s really a big factor of us winning the past couple games.
But it’s hot out, it’s not easy to play. In the end, it’s a point. Our guys defended the stadium well and on to the next one.
On some positives he took from this match…
I think that we need to continue to be aggressive. I think that once we scored that goal early, we kind of fell into a little bit of a defensive shell a little bit, and we needed to go out and find that second one. I think that we just took our foot off the pedal a little bit with that.
We had some good crosses. We probably put a little bit too much on their goalkeeper a little bit. But like I said, it’s a point and we’re in good place. We just got to continue to go after the 3 points.
Summary
Las Vegas Lights FC Starting XI:
Henry (GK), Sessock (Pope, 68′), Ofeimu, Guillen, Antonoglou, Ybarra, Probo, Locker (Mines, 79′), Pinzon (c) (Okyere, 68′), Anderson (Arteaga, 79′), Rodriguez
Phoenix Rising FC Starting XI:
Rakovsky (GK), Flores (Pelayo, 85′), Scearce (c), Boye, Biasi (Smith, 71′), Gomez (Rivera, 85′), Moursou, Avayevu (Irvin, 90+1′), Dennis, Badji, Studenhofft (Ambursley, 71′)
Goals:
LV – Themi Antonoglou (assist: Nyk Sessock) – 2’
PHX – Ben Ofeimu (OG) – 42′
Discipline:
PHX – Yellow, Studenhofft – 29’
PHX – Yellow, Badji – 84’
LV – Yellow, Pope – 85’
PHX – Yellow, Irwin – 90+3’
Next Up
The Lights will face Oakland Roots at Cashman Field for First Responders Night on Wednesday, August 5. Get tickets now at lightsfc.com/tickets.
