Phoenix Rising FC improved to 3-2-0 this season with a 3-1 win in front of 8,019 fans tonight at Wild Horse Pass.
Luis Seijas scored twice for Rising while Marcus Epps added a late insurance goal. Rising is back at home against next Saturday, April 16, vs. New Mexico United (7:30).
LA Galaxy II and Rising started off the match by trading chances at opposite ends of the pitch. Both skipped just wide of the back post in the opening six minutes of the match before Epps created a scoring chance in the 11th minute when he ran at a defender and cut the ball back to Darnell King. King whipped in a cross to the back post, where Claudio Repetto snapped a header on goal, but LA goalkeeper Richard Sanchez made a diving save to his right side.
Seijas gave Rising a 1-0 lead in the 31st minute when Aodhan Quinn slid into a difficult challenge to poke the ball free. The veteran Venezuelan darted towards goal and unleashed a knuckling line-drive shot that Sanchez got a piece of but was unable to keep it out of the back of the net.
Seijas gave Rising a two-goal lead in the 42nd minute on a corner kick taken by Quinn. Sanchez came off his line to push the initial cross away, but the deflection skipped out to the top of the box for Seijas to rip a shot on goal. The midfielder picked a perfect spot, zipping a low shot past the goalkeeper and into the back of the net.
LA’s Preston Judd came free on the right side and ripped a hard shot on goal to begin the second half. Thankfully for the home side, Rising goalkeeper Ben Lundt stood his ground and punched away the chance to keep his then 276-minute shutout streak intact.
LA Galaxy II made it a 2-1 game in the 68th minute, ending Rising’s shutout streak at 337 minutes. Remi Cabral finished off the chance for Los Dos, redirecting a short pass into the back of the net from close range on a feed from Mike Salazar.
Epps added his goal in the 90th minute after Joey Calistri weaved his way through the Galaxy II back line and curled a hard shot, low towards the post. Sanchez made the initial stop but left a rebound for Epps. Phoenix’s right winger was first to react, knocking a pass by the goalkeeper and into the goal for his second of the season.
Scoring:
PHX – Luis Seijas (Aodhan Quinn) 31
PHX – Luis Seijas 42
LA – Remi Cabral (Mike Salazar) 68
PHX – Marcus Epps 90
Discipline:
LA – Taylor Davila (caution) 45+2
PHX – Luis Seijas (caution) 56
LA – Mike Salazar (caution) 65
PHX – Joey Calistri (caution) 74
LA – Hamza Barry (caution) 77
Lineups:
Phoenix Rising FC – Ben Lundt, Ryan Flood, Joe Farrell, Kevon Lambert, Darnell King, Aodhan Quinn (Jonathan Levin 90+3), Arturo Rodriguez, Luis Seijas, Marcus Epps (Richmond Antwi 90+3), Claudio Repetto (Joey Calistri 61), Greg Hurst (Manuel Madrid 86). Substitutes Not Used: Lalo Delgado, Manuel Madrid, Channing Chasten.
LA Galaxy II – Richard Sanchez, Josh Drack, Liam Doyle, Jalen Neal, Owen Lambe (Duhaney Williams 85), Taylor Davila (Dante Campbell 81), Hamza Barry, Remi Cabral, Mike Salazar, Preston Judd, Cam Dunbar.
Substitutes Not Used: Eric López, Marcus Ferkranus, Chandler Vaughn, Adrian Gonzalez, Victor Valdez.
Rising midfielder Luis Seijas
General thoughts on the match…
We needed this win for the people, for the fans, for ourselves. We train. We put in a lot of effort. The game against San Diego didn’t go well, but after that, it was a good week for us – [three wins]. I gained a lot of confidence this week. Personally, I had my whole family here from Venezuela. My daughters were here so it was an emotional night for me.
Rising head coach Rick Schantz
LA Galaxy II plays nice football. In the first half we were able to force them to play wide, but then what you saw was… three games in a week was taking its toll. We had to play 120 minutes on Wednesday, so coming out in the second half was really hard. True to form, when we gave up the goal our guys turned it up another notch. I’m proud of them but we still have some things to fix.
On Luis Seijas…
He’s extremely experienced. He’s calm on the ball. He strikes the ball, obviously, very well. We asked him to do a lot more defending today and he didn’t even hesitate. I’m so happy for him. We got a cup of coffee a few weeks ago and talked… It feels like it is really paying off now.
Seijas Brace Leads Rising to 3-1 Win
