Rising Falls, 1-0, to Birmingham 

Phoenix Rising FC fell, 1-0, tonight to Birmingham Legion FC at Wild Horse Pass.

Rising returns to action next Saturday, June 11 (7:30 p.m.), vs. El Paso Locomotive on Fan Appreciation Night. Tickets are available by clicking here.

Tonight, Rising nearly went ahead in the 36^th minute, when Marcus Epps brought down a driven ball with his chest and was off to the races. Cutting in from the right flank, Epps played a ball back into the middle for Joey Calistri to strike with his first touch. Calistri hit the ball well, but Birmingham goalkeeper Matt Van Oekel read the play and made a diving save to keep the home team off the scoreboard.

Proper Kasim gave Birmingham a 1-0 lead in the 58^th minute when a quick transition caught Rising unprepared. Enzo Martinez set up the chance by running at the Phoenix defense. Rising was able to knock the ball off his foot, but the loose ball sat up perfectly for Kasim to strike the ball with his first touch. The right-footed shot curled around the reach of Phoenix goalkeeper Ben Lundt and just inside the back post to make it 1-0 Legion.

Rising brought on its newest signing, Koze Donasiyano to try and ignite the attack in the 75^th minute. The team pressed the issue but could not find a way to beat Birmingham goalkeeper Matt Van Oekel despite outshooting the visitors 23-13.

Scoring:
BIR – Proper Kasim 58

Discipline:
BIR – Jonny Dean (caution) 21
PHX – Santi Moar (caution) 36
BIR – Zach Herivaux (caution) 43
PHX – Baboucarr Njie (caution) 50


Lineups:

Phoenix Rising FC – Ben Lundt, Baboucarr Njie (Claudio Repetto 83), Joe Farrell, James Musa (Luis Seijas 69), Darnell King, Sivert Haugli, Aodhan Quinn, Joey Calistri (Koze Donasiyano 75), Santi Moar, Marcus Epps (Ryan Flood 76), Greg Hurst. Substitutes Not Used: Lalo Delgado, Manuel Madrid, Carlos Anguiano.

Birmingham Legion FC – Matt Van Oekel, Phanuel Kavita, Mikey Lopez, Proper Kasim (Matt Corcoran 88), Marlon Santos (Ryan James 70), Jake Rufe, Enzo Martinez, Zach Herivaux, Alex Crognale, Jonny Dean, Juan Agudelo (Edi Horvat 78).

Substitutes Not Used: Trevor Spangenberg, Grayson Dupont, Marco Garcia.

Rising head coach Rick Schantz

General thoughts on the match…

We took a lot of shots but we lacked quality in the final third. In the first half, we were too anxious. We settled for a lot of shots from 30-yards out rather than showing a bit of ability. We lost our creativity. At times we were too selfish and others we weren’t selfish enough. It just comes down to decision making. We needed to simplify. There were some good moments. We got into dangerous spots in wide areas. Then the crossing wasn’t good. We didn’t get enough runners into the box. It was just one of those nights.