Super Swirl Summary: LV 1, STL 4
Road woes continue for Lights FC as they lose big to Saint Louis FC.
Simply looking at the location, you could make an educated guess on the result of Las Vegas Lights FC at Saint Louis FC. While they are tough to beat at home, Lights FC continues to drop points on the road. Last night, the hosts defeated Las Vegas by a comfortable 4-1 scoreline.
They didn’t waste much time getting on the board, either. A quality corner kick led to a good chance right in front of goal. The initial attempt was stopped, but Phanuel Kavita buried the follow-up. Trailing early on, the Lights began to try and impose their physicality on the Saint Louis players. Unfortunately, they would go down a second goal before the quarter-hour mark. Kadeem Dacres curled a beautiful shot to the far post, with Ricardo Ferrino only able to get a fingertip on the effort.
The Lights got one back after a penalty was awarded on a close call. Sammy Ochoa was trying to get on the end of a ball and it was bang-bang on if the Saint Louis keeper made a save and Ochoa ran into him or if the keeper made contact with Ochoa. Either way, the penalty was converted by Omar Salgado. A dead ball situation almost allowed the hosts to equalize, but their free-kick hit the inside of the post and stayed out.
After each team had a counter-attack chance stopped, Saint Louis finally added their third goal. A soft header back from Miguel Garduno was intercepted by Kyle Greig, who beat Ferrino. Joel Huiqui received a yellow card before the halftime whistle and will miss the next two matches due to accumulation.
Huiqui ends up getting his 11th yellow and two-game suspension later in the first half anyway after the one below was called on Inigo instead. https://t.co/vHb5lMbzjT
— Ben Gotz (@BenSGotz) August 12, 2018
Opening the second half, each side again had big chances on the counter. Ferrino came up with a massive double save to prevent goal #4 for Saint Louis. The second half would be filled with chances from Saint Louis and long, hopeful passes forward from Las Vegas.
Another moment of excitement came in the 69th minute when Miguel Garduno knocked Albert Dikwa and possibly kicked the ball at him out of play. After the referee conferred with his assistant, Garduno was shown a straight red card. Michael Cox scored his first goal for Saint Louis in the final minutes.
This was a major blow to the Lights’ playoff push. They dropped a result to a club just ahead of them in the standings and they lose two starting defenders for their midweek match at Orange County SC.
Photo courtesy of L.E. Baskow/Lights FC
