Lights FC fall flat in home finale defeat

In their crucial home finale, Las Vegas Lights FC were blanked by their rivals, 2-0.

Last night was the most important match to date for Las Vegas Lights FC as a franchise. Unfortunately, they lost to Reno 1868 FC at Cashman Field by a 2-0 scoreline. A Javan Torre own goal in the first half and Siad Haji’s quality finish provided the scores.

Key Stats

🔑 Zero goals. It’s simple, but it is the most telling stat of the night. In a must-win match, the Lights were blanked at home.

🔑 40% possession. Las Vegas chased for most of the match and had to commit more than double the fouls and make double the tackles.

Three Brightest Lights

💡💡💡 Ferrety Sousa: As he has been recently, Sousa was an action creator for Las Vegas, on both ends of the pitch. He had four successful crosses, two interceptions, a chance created, four tackles, and one of the club’s four shots on target. Now, that’s an all-around performance!

💡💡 Thomas Olsen: Despite allowing two goals, TKO stepped up for most of the night. He made seven saves and kept his team in this one.

💡 Gabe Robinson: The central defender made a whopping 11 clearances on the night and completed over 80% of his passes.

Quick Kicks

⚽ With over 10,000 fans in attendance last night, the atmosphere was really good. In fairness, I thought there could’ve been a little more engagement from the massive crowd. But, Fan Appreciation Night was definitely a special event for Las Vegas soccer.

⚽ One of the biggest moments of the match came in the 67th minute. Only trailing 1-0, Tabort Etaka Preston got into the area, the defender marking him stumbled, and he had a great chance to level things, but his shot was nowhere close to being on frame. It was a deflating moment. A few minutes earlier, Bryan de la Fuente hit the post, but Preston’s miss seemed to be more frustrating.

⚽ While Eric Wynalda did make attack-minded substitutions and adjustments in the second half, I think the changes needed to be made sooner in a match of that magnitude. There were very few attacking moments for Las Vegas in the first half and I think they should’ve put the pedal to the metal earlier on.

⚽ For the second straight year, the Lights will miss the playoffs. At least this season, that determination came in the final matches of the year.

What’s Next?

📅 The season will come to a close next week as the Lights face New Mexico United on the road. New Mexico is battling for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference and that atmosphere will be raucous on Saturday.