OKC Energy (5-4-7, 7th in West) vs. Phoenix Rising FC (8-5-2, 1st in West)
6:00pm, Taft Stadium, Oklahoma City, OK
TV: Your Phoenix CW
Stream: ESPN+
Radio: AZSports.com
Matchcenter: #OKCvPHX
Phoenix Rising caps off their short road trip with a date in Oklahoma.
Rising’s Last Match
On three days rest, Rising took advantage of an early goal en route to a 3-0 win over Reno 1868 FC last Tuesday. Reno did put up a fight, pressuring Rising at the back and making it difficult for Phoenix to play out of the back. Phoenix flipped the script in the second half, controlling the last 45 with Solomon Asante adding a second goal thanks to Jose Aguinaga and Joey Calistri getting the third in the closing moments.
OKC Energy FC
The Energy come into tonight’s match having drawn four straight matches, including one on the road against New Mexico United. The team is led offensively by Deshorn Brown and Omar Gordon. Brown leads the team with 8 goals in only 1,002 minutes so far this season while Gordon leads the team in assists with 6 along with 4 goals. Alexy Bosetti pulls the strings as well, with 31 chances created, good for 11th in USL. Cody Laurendi leads all of USL with 52 saves but only has three clean sheets on the year. OKC do have a couple of familiar faces to AZ soccer, with former Rising defender Mike da Fonte on the backline after being signed in April and former GCU defender Amer Sasivarevic. The Gold Cup has depleted OKC more than any other team in the USL Championship, with 4 players and 3,414 minutes worth of play missing.
Tale of the Tape
Player to Watch
Joey Farrell
It’s the third game in seven days for Rising and Farrell has been a rock in the first two. However, with the lack of rest and the speed that OKC possesses in the forward line, it will be a test for the center-back and the partner he is paired with.
Projected Lineup
It should be pretty straight forward for Schantz tonight. It’s possible that Cochran comes back into the lineup but with Mala’s performence it is hard to justify sitting him. The midfield three could also see a change, maybe Wheeler-Omiunu gets his first Rising start?
Did You Know?
– Rising is going for its record sixth straight win tonight and have not given up a goal in 335 minutes of play.
– Phoenix is the only USL team to have a player in the Top 5 in Goals, Assists, and Clean Sheets
– The team has scored 8 more goals than they had at this point last year when they eventually broke the club record for goals in a season.
