By: Joel Huber & Chris Ragain
This Friday, May 27th, the Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC will be hosting the Orange County Blues FC in their second matchup of the 2016 USL season. The first meeting of these two teams concluded in a 3-0 Switchbacks victory at Anteater Stadium in Irving, California. Currently, in the Western Conference standings, the Switchbacks are in second place while the OC Blues trail in ninth place.
The first matchup of the season saw the Switchbacks overpower the 2015 Western Conference Champions from Orange County. Saeed Robinson made the best of a crucial error, by the 2015 USL Goalkeeper of the year Brandon Miller, to get his second goal of the season. Luke Vercollone and Marty Maybin also found the net to take the 3-0 road win back to Colorado Springs.
“I’m feeling pretty confident with how the team’s been playing.” Said Captain Luke Vercollone. “I’m expecting to get a great result. I think we can really take it to them, and get a good scoreline, two, three-nothing, hopefully another shutout and if we play our game, the sky’s the limit.”
Last week, the Switchbacks FC saw their sixth victory in Peoria, Arizona against Arizona United. This 3-1 win made quite a statement as Switchbacks midfielder Josh Suggs earned a spot on the USL Team of the week, and forward Miguel Gonzalez scored a spot for a USL goal of the week. The Switchbacks will be returning to Peoria next week to face Arizona United again in the third round of the US Open Cup.
The Switchbacks will be looking forward to returning home on Friday as the backline has been a force to reckon with and a nightmare for teams to overcome at the high altitude. So far, in four matches in all competitions (3 USL, 1 US Open Cup) the Switchbacks have held teams scoreless for a perfect 360 minutes.
“We’re looking forward to playing OC at home.” Said defender Josh Phillips. “We’ve already played them once this year, so we have a little bit of an idea of what to expect; we know what we need to do to win. One of our focuses this year has been not allowing goals at home, so far we haven’t given up any at Switchbacks Stadium, and we don’t plan on letting that happen anytime soon.”
The OC Blues will be coming off a hard loss on the road against the Real Monarch FC last week. This 3-1 defeat was a surprising end to the match after the Blues started off strong with the first goal. It is clear that after such a game, and the last meeting with the Switchbacks, the Blues will be hungry for a victory.
Friday’s match will be the second in a three game series between the sides, with the finale coming on September 24th to cap off regular season play for both teams. With a Switchbacks win, they would be tied with the Vancouver Whitecaps FC 2 who are currently in first place in the Western Conference.
By: Joel Huber & Chris Ragain
This Friday, May 27th, the Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC will be hosting the Orange County Blues FC in their second matchup of the 2016 USL season. The first meeting of these two teams concluded in a 3-0 Switchbacks victory at Anteater Stadium in Irving, California. Currently, in the Western Conference standings, the Switchbacks are in second place while the OC Blues trail in ninth place.
The first matchup of the season saw the Switchbacks overpower the 2015 Western Conference Champions from Orange County. Saeed Robinson made the best of a crucial error, by the 2015 USL Goalkeeper of the year Brandon Miller, to get his second goal of the season. Luke Vercollone and Marty Maybin also found the net to take the 3-0 road win back to Colorado Springs.
“I’m feeling pretty confident with how the team’s been playing.” Said Captain Luke Vercollone. “I’m expecting to get a great result. I think we can really take it to them, and get a good scoreline, two, three-nothing, hopefully another shutout and if we play our game, the sky’s the limit.”
Last week, the Switchbacks FC saw their sixth victory in Peoria, Arizona against Arizona United. This 3-1 win made quite a statement as Switchbacks midfielder Josh Suggs earned a spot on the USL Team of the week, and forward Miguel Gonzalez scored a spot for a USL goal of the week. The Switchbacks will be returning to Peoria next week to face Arizona United again in the third round of the US Open Cup.
The Switchbacks will be looking forward to returning home on Friday as the backline has been a force to reckon with and a nightmare for teams to overcome at the high altitude. So far, in four matches in all competitions (3 USL, 1 US Open Cup) the Switchbacks have held teams scoreless for a perfect 360 minutes.
“We’re looking forward to playing OC at home.” Said defender Josh Phillips. “We’ve already played them once this year, so we have a little bit of an idea of what to expect; we know what we need to do to win. One of our focuses this year has been not allowing goals at home, so far we haven’t given up any at Switchbacks Stadium, and we don’t plan on letting that happen anytime soon.”
The OC Blues will be coming off a hard loss on the road against the Real Monarch FC last week. This 3-1 defeat was a surprising end to the match after the Blues started off strong with the first goal. It is clear that after such a game, and the last meeting with the Switchbacks, the Blues will be hungry for a victory.
Friday’s match will be the second in a three game series between the sides, with the finale coming on September 24th to cap off regular season play for both teams. With a Switchbacks win, they would be tied with the Vancouver Whitecaps FC 2 who are currently in first place in the Western Conference.