Phoenix Rising started on the front foot and dominated the Las Vegas Lights on their way to a 2nd straight 4-0 home win against Sin City.

• Boy, that starting lineup, eh? Schantz rolled out 5 changes from Wednesday’s U.S. Open Cup loss to Nex Mexico United.
• Phoenix with two chances early, both starting with Junor Flemmings taking the ball from Vegas in their half. Both shots were right at Thomas Olsen though.
• Rick Schantz called it one of the best goals in Rising history and he probably wasn’t too far off after Jahn dummied an Aguinaga pass, leaving plenty of space for Kevon Lambert to find the back of the net.
• Through the first half, Vegas played like their road record shows. Phoenix dominated possession and could have had 3/4 goals had Flemmings finished any breakaways
• Vegas deserves some credit (okay, very little) for putting more pressure on Phoenix in the first 15 minutes of the second half. Phoenix’s backline did a great job protecting the box from Vegas’s 22 attempted crosses.
• Rising’s second goal was just as clean, if not more direct than the first. Nice to see Asante get on the scoresheet in his first start back too.
• Jahn got lucky when his shot squirmed through the hands of Olsen for the third goal. However, Jahn’s ability to react and go from attack to defense is what put him in a position to score.
• On that note, Phoenix as a team had 19 combined interceptions and recoveries in Vegas’s own half. The constant pressure from the front six has really clicked into gear over the last four games.
• Despite the early sub, I thought Mala played his best game in a long time. He was relatively clean on the ball and didn’t give Vegas a whole lot of chances. Mala might not see any increase in minutes with Cochran & Farrell forming a strong connection but it’s always nice to have a little more confidence in your backup.

Player Ratings
Those are our thoughts! What about you? Let us know how you think Rising performed tonight n our Player Ratings survey here!

Scoring Summary

40′- Kevon Lambert (PHX, assist Aguinaga)
51′- Solomon Asante (PHX, assist Flemmings)
77′- Adam Jahn (PHX, assist Las Vegas)
90+’- Junior Flemmings (assist Asante)

Starting Lineups
Las Vegas Lights
Olsen, Fehr, Robinson, Tove, Gonzalez, Sandoval (Hernandez 45′), Rojas, Levin (Tabort-Etaka 70′), Cruz, Torres (Ochoa 45′), Parra

Phoenix Rising
Lubin, Bjornethun, Mala (Farrell 68′), Cochran, Ledbetter, Lambert, Bakero (Musa 81′), Aguinaga (Calistri 64′), Asante, Jahn, Flemmings

Next Up: Phoenix Rising travels to Salt Lake City to take on Real Monarchs SLC (3-4-3, 15th in West) Saturday, May 25th at 7:00pm