Switchbacks FC Earn Second Clean Sheet Against New Mexico

August 27, 2022 – United Soccer League Championship (USL) – Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC News Release

Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC on the field
(Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC)

Colorado Springs, CO – The Switchbacks FC earned a huge win in a thriller of a match against New Mexico United, ending the night 1-0.

The Switchbacks dominated the field in the first half of the match, holding 64% of the possession with an 84.4% passing accuracy. #10 Hadji Barry had a great push in the 12th minute after some fancy footwork to keep the ball. New Mexico played really defensively in the first half, playing with five in the back and not making a lot of pushes to thread the ball, resulting in zero shots on the net for them in the first forty five.

The first and only goal of the night came in the 38th minute, as Barry earned his 16th goal of the season. A beautiful pass from #14 Jairo Henriquez crossed from midfield landed right on Barry’s boot, and some quick footwork saw the ball sail past the New Mexico goalkeeper into the top right corner of the net.

The Switchbacks refused to sit back in the second half and by the 72nd minute had made 425 passes. New Mexico struggled to keep possession of the ball and had no attempted shot for thirty minutes straight in the second half of the match. A last final push from NM required some big saves from Colorado Springs goal keeper #1 Jeff Caldwell, including a clutch grab in the 95th minute that would be the save of the game.

The Switchbacks will return to Weidner Field Saturday September 3rd as they host Phoenix Rising FC for their Cancer Awareness Night.

Quotes

Brendan Burke

Overall thoughts:

“I thought we protected our home field. Hadji [Barry] scored a good goal, I thought we had the better chances for the most part, until really late, and we defended like animals again for the second week in a row. If we do that, we have a chance to win against anybody in this league, and we’ve proved that with the quality of the last two teams we’ve beat here and kept clean sheets.”

On the forwards coming all the way to the back to play defensively:

“Michee [Ngalina], Jairo [Hneriquez], Elvis [Amoh], Hadji [Barry], and Malik [Johnson] before he got hurt – I would argue we have the best front four in the league, but also because they do the dirty work, all of them do the dirty work and that’s what gets you through tough and tight games like this.”

On the momentum shift of Barry’s goal:

“Well I think the game would have stretched and become…