Switchbacks defensively sound, but lose to Rio Grande Valley on late PK
The Switchbacks’ defense allowed just one shot on goal. Unfortunately that shot was a penalty kick and Rio Grande Valley FC captain Ruben Luna converted.
Luna was taken down in the box after Luna got behind the Switchbacks’ defense. He then placed the penalty kick perfectly in the lower left corner in the 67th minute to give the Toros a 1-0 win following an hour-and-20-minute lightning delay before kickoff Saturday at Weidner Field in Colorado Springs.
The Switchbacks (6-6-5), winners in three of their prior four, had defended well up until that point. They yielded only a couple crosses that goalie Moise Pouaty swallowed up or punched out before the Toros could do anything with them.
“We made a mistake,” Switchbacks coach Steve Trittschuh said.
“It’s my fault. I put the guys out on the field and we just weren’t good enough tonight. That’s it.”
Eddy Prugh’s 74th-minute shot was the Switchbacks’ best chance in the second half. They also had several free kicks from dangerous positions, but couldn’t convert.
That included a free kick from the left of goal by Masta Karcher. He delivered but Switchbacks defender Josh Phillips headed it just wide in the 81st.
Neither team managed much offense in the first half.The Switchbacks got the best chance in the first 45 minutes when Kevaughn Frater struck the ball from about 20 yards out.
With Aaron King running a screen in front, the ball seemed headed for the far corner of the goal. But Toros goalie Borja Angoitia dived to his right and snagged the shot in the 31st minute.
Rio Grande Valley (6-6-2) was coming off surrendering six goals in a 6-2 loss at Sacramento on June 21. The Toros had lost their past two and had won once in their previous six (1-3-2).
In the 10 days leading up to their game with the Switchbacks, the Toros appeared to have worked on their defensive game.
They rarely took offensive chances over the first 45 minutes, content to send only three or four players on attack while holding back at least six to stymie any sort of Switchbacks counterattack.
The Toros, the affiliate for MLS’ Houston Dynamo, were without two of their top players who had been called up to the Dynamo.
They entered the game in 10th place, but climbed into eighth with the win.
The Switchbacks are in sixth place.
The Toros sit three points back of the Switchbacks with three games in hand.
Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC faced off against the Tulsa Roughnecks FC on Friday May 5, 2017 at Weidner Field. The Switchbacks won the game over the Roughnecks 3-0. Photo by Dougal Brownlie, The Gazette.
Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC faced off against the Tulsa Roughnecks FC on Friday May 5, 2017 at Weidner Field. The Switchbacks won the game over the Roughnecks 3-0. Photo by Dougal Brownlie, The Gazette.