Rapids’ Unbeaten Run Ends with 2-1 Loss to Philadelphia Union

May 14, 2023 – Major League Soccer (MLS) – Colorado Rapids News Release

Colorado Rapids 1, Philadelphia Union 2

Matchday 12 | Saturday, May 13, 2023

DICK’S Sporting Goods Park, Commerce City, CO

The Big Picture

The Colorado Rapids (2-4-6, 12 pts) saw their nine-game unbeaten streak come to end in a 2-1 loss at home to MLS Cup Runners-Up Philadelphia Union (5-4-2, 17 pts) on Saturday night. Midfielder Connor Ronan scored the Rapids’ goal on the night, his fourth goal contribution in his last two appearances.

View highlights & match summary >>

Stats attached.

Notable:

Tonight’s result ended the Rapids’ unbeaten run of nine matches across all competitions (4-0-5).

M Connor Ronan scored the opening goal in tonight’s match off a 38th minute penalty kick. With it, he’s now scored and registered three assists in his last two appearances.

D Moïse Bombito made his MLS debut when he entered the match in the 81st minute. Bombito was selected with the third overall pick in the 2023 MLS SuperDraft by the Rapids.

M Sam Nicholson registered 79 minutes tonight, surpassing 5,000 minutes all-time as a member of the Rapids (5,076 minutes), becoming the ninth active player on the roster to register a minimum of 5,000 minutes with the club.

Postgame Media Press Conference Recordings:

Head coach Robin Fraser

Midfielder Connor Ronan

Select postgame quotes transcribed below.

COLORADO RAPIDS HEAD COACH ROBIN FRASER

On the match:

“We were poor. We were poor to start the game. Think Philadelphia made it tough for us to get into any kind of rhythm, but at the end of the day, we just weren’t particularly sharp on the night, sharp with the ball. That left us in a lot of defending situations. We didn’t defend particularly well, but my message to them was the urgency that we saw in the last 30 minutes, we need to see that from the beginning. They know that. That’s what they’ve been doing for a number of weeks now, so today, I’d certainly like to think is an aberration.”

On Connor Ronan:

“He’s really intelligent. Connor [Ronan] is a really intelligent player, and he also plays with an extremely high level of intensity, or engagement-maybe that’s a better way to put it. So when you have an intelligent player who’s always engaged, he oftentimes just knows where he needs to be based on the positioning of the others and the movement of others. And he has been good for us in so many ways throughout the year. Different times he’s been more of an attacking player, different times he’s helped start…