May 21, 2024 – United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Phoenix Rising FC News Release
The USL Championship announced the Team of the Week for Week 11 of the 2024 regular season on Tuesday, with two Rising players earning honorable mentions for their play in a 2-0 win vs. Miami FC on Saturday, May 18.
Rocco Rios Novo made a pair of saves to collect his third clean sheet of the season, a milestone the goalkeeper did not reach until July 29 of last season. Fede Varela scored the opening goal of the match, assisted by Remi Cabral. He also made the pass that led to Edguardo Rito’s goal in the 44th minute, one of his four chances created on the evening.
Tampa Bay Rowdies defender Forrest Lasso voted the Championship Player of the Week presented by Konami eFootball after recording the first two-goal game of his career in the Rowdies’ 5-0 victory against FC Tulsa on Saturday night at Al Lang Stadium.
A three-time USL Championship Defender of the Year honoree, Lasso is approaching 200 appearances across the regular season and playoffs in the league in his second stint with the Rowdies. A regular threat from set pieces, the 6-foot-3 center back stole in at the back post five minutes before half time to head home a flick-on by Cal Jennings off a corner kick from the left for his first goal of the contest, and then connected with a corner kick from the right by Lewis Hilton to wrap up the five-goal performance.
The 31-year-old has now recorded 19 goals and seven assists in the Championship for his career with his size and aerial prowess a major plus for the Rowdies at set piece opportunities.
“Forrest has been great,” said Rowdies Head Coach Robbie Neilson following Saturday’s game. “We did quite a bit of work during the week on set pieces. [Assistant Coach] Nicky Law does work on the attacking side of things and [Assistant Coach] Stuart Dobson does the work on the defensive side. … Attacking wise, it’s important that we don’t solely rely on Manu [Manuel Arteaga] and Cal [Jennings]. We have to get goals from elsewhere.”
Lasso earned 45 percent of the ballot to claim the award. Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC forward Ronaldo Damus finished second on 36 percent after recording a two-goal performance in his side’s 3-1 victory against Rhode Island FC as the Switchbacks won their fourth consecutive outing in league play.
The Championship’s Player of the Week is selected by the USL National Media Panel, which is made up of representatives from each media market in…
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