On Saturday night, Phoenix Rising thought they had secured a 1-0 defeat over the Las Vegas Lights, but in extra minutes they gave up two goals and ended up losing.
The last time the two teams faced each other was on June 1 when they drew 0-0.
After playing a match a week ago, and a road game on Wednesday, fans expected to see some new faces. Of those new faces that stood out in the match was forward Jearl Margaritha who had several great crosses into the box.
The first half was slow and Vegas controlled majority of possession but didn’t attempt a good shot until about halfway through the first half.
Las Vegas finished the half with 58% possession to Rising’s 42% and also led in shots 9-3.
The second half started slow too, but after a Vegas player caught goalkeeper Rocco Rios Novo way off his line, he attempted a shot from way out. Novo would hit the ball just enough to send it up over the goal but still gave the Light’s a corner kick opportunity.
In addition to new faces, Rising fans also got to see Remi Cabral return to the starting lineup, however it would be short lived when he would leave the game with an injury.
Margaritha would cross the ball into the box and Cabral dove, heading it into the goal colliding with the Vegas keeper leaving both of them down for several minutes. Cabral would exit the match but the keeper would stay in.
This goal was just Cabral’s seventh on the year, however he hasn’t played much since he was injured.
Despite the game picking up pace in the second half, Rising fans and players appeared sure they had secured the 1-0 defeat when the announcement that they would play seven extra minutes echoed in the stadium.
In a set piece, Jean-Claude Ngando scored a goal for the Lights in 90+6 minutes and Joe Gyau also scored three minutes later off a crossing pass.
After the match, Head Coach Diego Gomez spoke to reporters saying, “It was a tough loss we had the 1-0 until the 96th minute and then we lost 1-2.” He continued later saying, “We had very good moments and chances to finish the game but we didn’t come out.”
With just five matches left in the season, Rising still holds their playoff spot currently sitting in the 7 seed while Vegas sits at the 3 seed.
Rising will be back home at 38th St/Washington on Friday October 4th at 7:30 pm to face Monterey Bay FC.
