Phoenix welcomed the Colorado Springs Switchbacks to 38th St./Washington on Saturday night.
Coming into the game, Phoenix had only one win across four games while Colorado Springs was still looking for their first win of the year.
Phoenix started strong, dominating possession from the back, making early chances as the Switchbacks struggled.
Rising kept up the pressure, but the Switchbacks defense would not break, as the game went into half knotted up at zero.
In the 71st minute, a Rising corner kick led to a deflected shot that fell perfectly in front of left back John Stenberg, who powered the ball into the net to give Rising the lead.
“Amazing—my family was here, so it meant a lot,” Stenberg said. “It’s a great feeling, you know, we felt during the game that we had a good control over the game. They dropped pretty low, so we had a lot of possession but, we said at halftime when we had to be harder in the box…I’m just happy to be in the right spot at the right time, grateful.”
In the infamous “Red Sea” area, the flares and cheers came from the fans, and with that, came the players, celebrating with them.
“I felt we had enough momentum in the game to, to eventually find that breakthrough,” said Rising head coach Danny Stone.
The Switchbacks didn’t give up, launching an aggressive offensive push, trying to salvage points, despite being outplayed.
“One goal in soccer is often not enough,” Stenberg said. “We knew that the last 10-15 minutes they were going to come at us… I think we let them have the ball a little too easy and dropped too low, so that’s something we got to look into but, yeah, we had the bounce on our side, and I think we earned it.”
Rising held strong, but in the 95th minute, Colorado Springs’ Koa Santos crossed the ball into the box, where Matthew Mahoney appeared to score.
Just before Switchbacks could celebrate, the linesman’s flag signaled offside, prompting cheers and relief from the crowd as the final whistle blew moments later.
Eight of Rising’s 21 shots were on target, compared to one out of four for Colorado Springs.
“If I’m honest with you, we probably could’ve had three or four tonight,” said Stone to reporters after the match.
Phoenix will aim for their first consecutive wins of the season when they host the Pittsburgh Riverhounds at 38th St./Washington on April 20.
