Breaking the Colorado Springs Switchbacks’ curse against San Antonio FC last week required a bit of a different approach, according to Switchbacks coach James Chambers. 

Forget the metrics, just win. 

“There’s a couple of ways to look at your performance. The metric is a were you good out of possession, were you good in possession? Did you commit maximum effort to it,” Chambers said. “We knew our performances the week before were relatively good, but we needed something just a little bit different. … I don’t think it was a great performance with the ball. I thought at times we were good, but not good enough. But we got the win because we worked extremely hard for one another and we were there for one another.”

Colorado Springs (9-11-7) has just three games remaining in the regular-season slate, and after winning just once in a four-game homestand, it’s results over everything. The club’s next test is at USL Championship Eastern Conference club Charleston Battery on Saturday. Kickoff is at 5:30 p.m. 

The match is the first of two tough road games for Colorado Springs. Battery (17-5-4) is second in the East. The South Carolina club and top-seed Louisville City FC are ahead of the rest of the Eastern table by a wide margin, and Battery is unbeaten in the last four matches. For their finale on Oct. 25, the Switchabcks will travel to FC Tulsa, which sits atop the Western Conference. 

The Switchbacks currently sit in seventh place in the West. If the club fails to pick up points in the last three outings, it could miss the postseason for the first time since 2020. But Chambers is taking it one game at a time. The key to victory on Saturday is finding a way to nullify 

Charleston’s potent attack. Battery is led by forwards Cal Jennings who has 16 goals and Matt Myers with 13. As a unit, Charleston has scored 54 goals, tied for the most in the league. 

“For us it’s like, ‘Look, it’s not about where we finish now.’ That’s what was so frustrating I think about the three-game week was we knew the importance of it and again, we didn’t do everything right, but we didn’t do a lot wrong,” Chambers said. “And that’s why we were all very frustrated last week coming back into the building. We knew it was just about getting a win but again, it’s just one win. It’s important that we attack Saturday first and foremost. Give ourselves the best possible chance of a result, with a performance or with a win, either way.”

Charleston midfielder Juan Torres leads the way for the club in assists with 10. For Colorado Springs, midfielder Marco Micaletto leads the club in goals with six, while midfielder Steven Echevarria and forwards Yosuke Hanya and Jonas Fjeldberg lead in assists with three. 

Depleted roster 

The injury bug has hit the Switchbacks hard this season and this week is no exception. Midfielders Anthony Fontana and Aidan Rocha will not play as they are dealing with long-term injuries. 

Chambers said Tuesday that Micaletto and midfielder Zach Zandi are working to get back but that the former would not play on Saturday. 

Colorado Springs will also be without defenders Markhus “Duke” Lacroix, Garven Metusala and midfielder Echevarria who are out on international duty.