Colorado Springs Suffer Defeat At Home Against Oakland Roots SC
COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO (June 2nd, 2023) – The Colorado Springs Switchbacks were unable to find a conversion to their plays and fell in defeat to Oakland Roots 1-0.
The Switchbacks were looking to earn a win tonight and break their unfortunate streak that found them with four losses in May. This was their first home match in a month, and the stadium was full of fans eager to lend their support. Oakland Roots would take the lead early though, as #17 Rodriguez was able to power it in from outside the 18 yard box.
Despite their efforts, the Switchbacks were unable to change the score, although several chances of note showed their tenacity in trying to earn the win. With 8 shots in the first half to Oakland Roots 4, and a passing accuracy of 83.8% throughout the match, on paper the match seemed to be in the hands of the good guys.
COS goalkeeper #1 Christian Herrera had multiple high impact saves late in the game to keep the score at a one goal deficit, including a huge save in the box during stoppage time. His saves wouldn’t tilt the board though, and the final whistle would blow with the same score of 1-0.
The Colorado Springs Switchbacks will be back at home next week on June 10th for our Margaritaville Night as they take on Orange County SC. For tickets to that match, and all others, head HERE.
Post Match Quotes:
Head Coach Hogan:
Overall Thoughts:
“Same thing, it’s pretty simple. I don’t know why we didn’t step to the shot. If we had, they don’t score. They had one or two other chances, we let them in once or twice, but other than that, I think Chambo (James Chambers) and Alan (McCann) told me that we had six clear good chances within the first 15 minutes. It’s the same thing in terms of, just not ending a play. It needs to happen, it needs to click into gear and I think if it does it will take over and we’ll start winning games, or at least earning draws. We changed some things, we went back to basics and to fundamentals – we did our pressing right, we did it great – I can’t explain why we can’t find the back of the net.”
On what we’re missing in the final third:
“I think the key there is less touches and better body position. Like I said we were talking about going back to fundamentals, being in the right area at the right time, that’s happening. The delivery of the ball from Becky, he had seven or eight decent deliveries, at least one of those needs to be a goal.”
Matt Mahoney:
On stopping those early chances of the other team:
“I think at this point it just comes down to desire, and the will to just get ourselves out of this rut. It’s been consistently now for five games where we go in with a gameplan and then we give up a goal in the first twenty minutes and then the other team sits back, and we play good soccer but that doesn’t matter if we can’t score. We have to figure out something, and the only way to get out of this rut is to keep working hard, so we’re going to keep working hard. It’s still early in the season so we have plenty of time.”
On Herrera’s performance:
“I mean that [him bailing us out] is why he’s in there. We need keepers to bail us out sometimes when we’re pushing, and he deserves to be MotM – he had some fantastic saves and he has all season and I’m thankful to have him behind us, I just wish we could help him out in the other end a little bit.”
Christian Herrera:
On cleaning up to avoid early goals from the opposition:
“I think it comes down to work – putting in the work during the week. I think we do but maybe we need to go within and humble ourselves and give more because the fans deserve more than that.”
On his performance tonight:
“I think when you’re down, you throw the kitchen sink at them [the opposition] and as a keeper you understand that they’re going to get a lot more open chances so it’s crunch time and it’s time to do your job.”
On getting to be back at home:
“Oh fantastic, fantastic. Thank you to all the fans, it was an amazing atmosphere, and we’re just sorry we couldn’t get the win for you.”
Match Statistics:
Saves: COS: Herrera: (4) OAK: Blanchette (2)
Goals: OAK: Rodriguez (12′) (A: Matsoso)
Discipline: COS: YC: S. Williams (16′); Mahoney (29′); Beckford (45′) OAK: YC: Mfeka (84′)