May 23, 2024 – United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Phoenix Rising FC News Release
Coming off a 2-1 loss to Seattle Sounders FC in the Round of 16 of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Wednesday, Phoenix Rising heads to Indianapolis to face Indy Eleven, Saturday, May 25. That match will be broadcast live on Arizona’s Family Sports Network and streamed on the Goalazo Network at 4 p.m.
“I’m incredibly disappointed for the team,” said Rising head coach Danny Stone following last night’s defeat. “It was a good game. We played well in general. For much of the first half we were very good. We earned ourselves a goal and the lead at halftime. We knew coming out in the second half they needed to push the game. Seattle needed to generate some more attacking thrust, which they did. For long spells, we coped with that. There was a 15-20-minute period in the second half where we got to grips with the game again… Some very good stuff.”
Against an MLS opponent, Rising held a 57-43 edge in possession and led 1-0 at halftime.
“The effort was very spirited against a very good team,” added Stone. “They were 1-0 down. They had to come at us. We knew we were going to have to defend the box. We knew we had to put in some grit and grind in that second half. I’m disappointed that we weren’t able, at the least, able to take it to extra time. I felt the game was even over the full 90 minutes. I felt the team was outstanding in many ways, but we move on quickly now. We recover and go again on Saturday.”
Phoenix will have no time to linger on the loss as it faces an Indy Eleven side Saturday that has won four consecutive league matches vs. North Carolina (2-1), Monterey Bay (1-0), Miami (3-1) and Hartford (4-1).
“There is no time to feel sorry for ourselves,” said Stone. “We have to quickly recover and go again. We play another tough opponent, another away game. We’ll be confident in the 11 we put on the field. The target is the same, we’ll go and try to win a game of football one game at a time.”
Rising’s team defense remains the strength of the team 11 matches into the campaign, having allowed 1.09 goals per game. Phoenix’s offense, which has scored 1.18 goals per game may be poised to gain some momentum against Indy, which has allowed the third-most goals in the East (19, 1.72 goals per game).
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