Postgame Notes: Rapids Suffer First Loss of 2023 on the Road to Seattle

February 26, 2023 – Major League Soccer (MLS) – Colorado Rapids News Release

Lumen Field, Seattle, WA

The Big Picture

The Rapids fell on the road to reigning Concacaf Champions League winners Seattle Sounders FC in their first match of the 2023 season. Three Rapids players made their MLS and club debuts, as defenders Andreas Maxsø and Alex Gersbach, along with midfielder Connor Ronan, all played their first minutes in Burgundy since joining Colorado this past offseason; Kevin Cabral also made his club debut when he entered the match in the second half. The Rapids will look to bounce back as they host Sporting Kansas City on Saturday, March 4, in their first home game of the 2023 season.

Notable:

F Diego Rubio missed the trip to Seattle through injury. Rubio led the Rapids with 16 goals in 2022, tying a club record, while also setting a new mark for most goal contributions in Rapids history (16 goals, seven assists).

18-year-old forward Darren Yapi made his second-ever start for the Rapids tonight. The Rapids Homegrown Player hit the crossbar in the first minute of the match.

Postgame Quotes:

Select postgame quotes transcribed below.

COLORADO RAPIDS HEAD COACH ROBIN FRASER

On the match:

“We actually started off okay. I remember looking at the clock at 15-something and thinking this is a really long 15 minutes because the game was pretty intensely contested from the beginning-both teams not really taking too many chances, not wanting to expose themselves, so for about 15 minutes it was a pretty even contest. We had a couple of good moments. To give up the goal the way we did was disappointing, and then certainly, to give up a goal seconds before halftime was really disappointing. That’s something we’ve talked about quite a bit, the critical moments of the game, so that was really disappointing. I do think that I have to take some of the blame because Seattle on the road, perhaps we may have been a bit too aggressive. But we’ve certainly been working at being able to play in a number of different manners, meaning, at times being aggressive, at times being more conservative. And as they started to get behind us, or every time they got behind us, it felt really dangerous. And I thought we just didn’t handle those situations well enough. So I definitely have to look at myself and think that perhaps our setup was a bit too aggressive given where we were first game of the year, that sort of thing. So I certainly have to take some of that as well.”

On his message to…