San Antonio has been somewhat of a rivalry game for Phoenix with the last matchup resulting in former Rising star Manuel Arteaga getting ejected in the 13th minute. In that match Rising lost 2-1, and in the 2024 season, Rising fell 2-1 to San Antonio in July.
Phoenix came into the game fresh off a 0-2 loss to Sacramento Republic FC in which their streak of not allowing a goal came to an end. On the other hand, San Antonio came in on a two-game win streak beating Monterey Bay and Oakland Roots 1-0 each.
With September creeping to an end, both teams needed the win to help their playoff chances, which will be on the minds of USL fans for the next several weeks.
The game got started and both teams came out with high intensity, but it was Rising that would score the points for the night, despite scoring being a recurring issue all season.
Pape Mar Boye started things off when he sent Charlie Dennis’s corner kick hard enough into the goal for the first score of the night.
Twelve minutes later, Dariusz Formella scored a goal on a beautiful cut inside the box and the perfect finish, it would be his fifth goal of the season.
When the second half started San Antonio appeared stronger but would still surrender two more goals.
In the 65th minute, Charlie Dennis scored his first goal in a Rising uniform when he sent the ball to the lower corner leaving San Antonio’s goalkeeper no chance.
Near the end of the match fans were calling Rising for “one more goal” unto which Damien Barker responded with a goal in the 84th minute to seal the deal for Phoenix.
Rising hasn’t shown this much offensive fire power in a long time and you could tell by the fans celebrations as well as the players. They haven’t scored multiple goals since July 19th when they beat El Paso Locomotive 2-0. Fans left happy after seeing a multi-goal victory just like they know the defending champions can do.
Head coach Diego Gomez spoke on the offensive play after the game saying, “I’m very happy with the guys, I think they did everything well, and we wanted to open the goal—especially for us.”
Phoenix has a tough schedule coming up with their next match on Wednesday September 25 at Orange County SC, and then they return home to play Las Vegas Lights FC on Saturday September 28.
Gomez spoke to reporters during the post-game interview on the quick turn around saying, “They are focused, today lets enjoy the 4-0 victory, and celebrate with family,” said Gomez.
With the victory, Phoenix now holds the 7 seed, meaning they currently hold a spot in the 2024 USL Championship playoffs, but there is still a lot of season left.
