A relentless Switchbacks attack and the altitude wore down Vancouver to allow Colorado Springs to pull away for a 3-0 home win over the Whitecaps 2 squad.

Leading scorer Luke Vercollone scored the clinching second goal – his sixth tally of the season – with about 12 minutes left.

The Colorado Springs midfield started pressing forward late and Martin Maybin found Vercollone open against a flat-footed WhiteCaps defense. Vercollone’s low shot bounced off the side of a Vancouver defender and caromed past goalkeeper Spencer Richey.

A tired-looking Vancouver squad was forced to press forward and Maybin scored on the counterattack in the 83rd minute off a Davy Armstrong pass for the final margin.

“We always want to take advantage of the altitude,” Maybin said. “We have a lot of young guys we like to send along the outside. We know that if we keep pressing we will wear other teams down and the goals will come.”

Colorado Springs took a 1-0 lead with about five minutes left in the first half when Miguel Gonzalez stepped to one side and fired a hard low shot toward the far left corner.

The busy Richey (five saves) dove forward to make the stop but was unable to smother the rebound. The deflected ball ended up near veteran Switchbacks forward Aaron King, who stepped forward and knocked the ball in for his second goal this season.

“That was just King being a great forward finding the ball,” Maybin said. “Getting that first goal is always big.”

The United Soccer League contest was stopped 28:14 into the first half when nearby lightning strikes forced an eventual 45-minute delay Saturday night. Sand Creek Stadium re-opened at 8:34 p.m. and the game resumed 10 minutes later in a scoreless tie.

The delay ended an entertaining first 28 minutes that saw both squads generate scoring chances but neither able to connect on the shot. Richey played well. His biggest save in the early going was when he smothered a low header by Switchbacks forward Mike Seth in the 23rd minute.

Colorado Springs keeper Devala Gorrick was certainly no slouch. He made a good save on a hard shot by Whitecaps midfielder Brett Levis five minutes into the contest. He made another in the final minutes to preserve his third shutout.

“That was a camera save,” Gorrick said. “Our back four did a great job bailing me out and I was able to make the one at the end.”

The Switchbacks (5-5) almost put the game away late in the first half, but both hard shots sailed wide of the Whitecaps net to keep it a one-goal game.