Las Vegas, Nevada — Saturday nights are usually pretty wild out in Sin City. This past Saturday was no different for the Las Vegas Lights FC as they ran away with a 4-1 victory against the Seattle Sounders FC 2. There were a number of positives for the Lights that helped them get the win, including numbers on defense, fast transitions, and quick passes.
The game started off a little shaky for both teams as they were all trying to find their rhythm for the game. The Lights were able to get the ball on the ground and under control first, which got them their first and early goal in the 16’ minute scored by Sam Ochoa. The goal was scored off of the Lights being able to control the ball and catch the Sounders defense off guard creating a nice simple finish.
The second goal followed right after in the 20’ by Ochoa, who was able to punish the Sounders off a bouncy pass back to the keeper who passed a short pass to one of his defenders on a goal kick.
Both teams did a great job of using their width, mainly with their left outside backs. This helped both teams create a plethora of opportunities in the box. The Lights were able to use that width and create more space between the last line of defense and more room to run with the ball. Las Vegas executed offensively to gain momentum off of their one-on-one advantages.
In the 43’ minute, the Lights captain, Joel Huiqui, scored who was assisted by the goalie Angel Alvarez. The Sounders’ Ray Saari, followed up with a goal in the 46’ to conclude the first half leaving the field with a score of 3-1.
Las Vegas was able to have full control of the first half for two main reasons: numbers around the ball on defense and punishing the Sounders on their mistakes. Two of the three goals were little misconnections and errors by Seattle. There were missed passes here and there that led to the Sounders having too many people forward when they would lose the ball causing the Lights to have more numbers in attack.
Along with that, when the Lights did lose the ball, they always had two men around the ball, which caused the Sounders to not able to spread out and get much possession. This itself also led to errors on Seattle’s part.
The second half started beautifully for the Lights as they were able to do exactly what they did the first half — take control of the game. Zach Mathers scored a goal in the 49’, which was a left-footed strike across the goal box.
After that goal, the Sounders seemed to start settling down and was able to connect more passes and that created more movement off the ball. Seattle was able to break down the Lights defense more toward the last 20 minutes of the game but was unable to get past the Lights keeper, Alvarez.
Even though the Sounders were able to find their rhythm in the last 15-20 minutes, they were unable to catch up the Las Vegas Lights and fell 4-1.
