Sacko, Gómez make their first goal contributions of the season as Rising picks up its first point of 2026
Phoenix Rising picked up its first point of the season, holding a 1-1 draw in its home opener against Orange County SC on March 14 at Phoenix Rising Stadium. Following the match, Rising Head Coach Pa-Modou Kah and midfielder JP Scearce talked with media members about the home opener, holding strong with ten men, moving forward and more.
HEAD COACH PA-MODOU KAH
On how the match went…
“I thought the boys fought very well. We did well by going up 1-0 and we could’ve done better in front of goal, just a loss of focus.”
On how the match changed following the red card…
“No, it didn’t change the mentality. But you go down a man… what do you do? You have to stay narrow and compact, which we did. I think we dealt with it, and we made the right adjustments. We just couldn’t hold on.”
MIDFIELDER JP SCEARCE
Thoughts on the match…
“Yeah, it’s a bit frustrating. The way it ended, I thought we played well for the most part. When we were in progression, we did well. We defended well, all the way to the 90th minute. And of course, just a lapse of concentration in added time and (Orange County) punished us, which is a bit frustrating, but we’ll take the point and get ready for Tuesday.“
On the late change of lineup/tactics…
“It was a last-minute change. As soon as I saw (Rafael Czichos), kind of with the trainers, I ended up putting my head to prepare myself. I accepted the change, so I started talking to Diego (Gomez) that he may be going in and we did well and we just have to play through adversity.“
