Phoenix Rising Prepares to Face Louisville City

July 19, 2022 – United Soccer League Championship (USL) – Phoenix Rising FC News Release

Phoenix travels to Louisville City for an early, 4 p.m. kickoff this Wednesday, July 20 on ESPN 2.

Louisville has won five straight including a 2-1 win against Memphis 901 on Saturday, July 16. The Eastern Conference leaders are 8-1-1 at Lynn Family Stadium this season and rank first in the Championship with 42 goals scored.

Phoenix did have a chance to regroup this past weekend with no matches scheduled. Rising hopes the break will allow the club to get another key piece back in injured center midfielder Arturo Rodriguez, who has been out since suffering an injury in a U.S. Open Cup match in Sacramento on May 11.

Last time out, Rising faced the same Memphis 901 team, falling 3-1, on July 9. The bright spot in that match for Phoenix was goalkeeper Ben Lundt, who made seven saves.

“There were a couple fantastic saves,” said Rising head coach Rick Schantz following the match. “We know that is what he is capable of… The last goal on the set piece, maybe he could have gotten to it, but the other two were just defensive breakdowns. He kept us in the game. That’s the only reason we still had a chance at 2-1. We made too many mistakes defensively in the first half. Once again, we were better in the second half, but it was just not good enough.

It took us a while to get our rhythm going. That seems to be our problem right now. We haven’t been up for the fight in the first 15 minutes. Once the game settles down, we’re good. We’ve got to get tougher. We’ve got to get meaner.”

Seven points out of a playoff position with 16 matches remaining in the regular season, Phoenix hopes it can pull off a huge upset and get a result in Louisville. The team returns to Wild Horse Pass for a pivotal game against Sacramento, which currently occupies the seventh and final playoff spot in the West this Saturday, July 23 at 7:30 p.m.

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