August 21, 2022 – United Soccer League Championship (USL) – Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC News Release
Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC in action
(Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC)
Colorado Springs, CO – The Switchbacks FC win their first match since July 15th in an exhilarating 1-0 final against Tampa Bay Rowdies – their first match against this franchise.
The Switchbacks came out firing, and #10 Captain Hadji Barry had a strong chance in the 4th minute. There was a good team push in the 15′ and another huge chance between Barry and #14 Henriquez in the 27′.Switchbacks goalkeeper #1 Jeff Caldwell had an enormous save in the 37′ to keep the table clean. The team as a whole showed a strong desire to push through, and held over 50% of the possession for the first half as well as taking lots of chances – marking six goal shots to Tampa Bay Rowdies’ one. Both teams would go into halftime scoreless, and itching to change that.
The press for a win didn’t stop at the start of the second half, and Barry, Henriquez, and #11 Michee Ngalina had back to back chances that would wing just outside of their targets. In the 66′ the Switchbacks would be the first on the board, as Ngalina gets a great through ball to Barry, that would ultimately rebond off Rowdies goalkeeper Cochran, only to find itself on the foot of Henriquez. #13 Echevarria tried to double the lead in the 85′ but the ball shanked high of the net. Three big set pieces in stoppage time had the Switchbacks working double team to keep the clean sheet, and a game winning save by Caldwell would earn the Switchbacks three very needed points.
The Switchbacks will return to Weidner Field Saturday August 27th as they host New Mexico United for their Small Business Night.
Quotes
Stephen Hogan
On winning his first game as acting head coach:
“It’s amazing, obviously, it’s disappointing in Sacramento we were very upset. We’ve been struggling since the beginning July and we all know why – we’ve come through it, and there was one or two things we wanted to do in terms of staying together, and defensively we were under the microscope a lot and there were a lot of things we had to manage – defending the red and defending inside the box. Obviously we’ve been losing for awhile so it feels good to get one back. If we [continue] to play that way, we’ll get our chances and we did tonight. I’m very proud and very happy for everyone. This is good for us, the boys might get an extra day now, who knows. We’ll see how we go, now…