Phoenix Rising cierra con derrota de cara a los playoffs de la USL

Phoenix Rising FC dropped its regular season finale, 1-0, to Portland Timbers 2 in front of a sellout crowd of 7,298 fans at the Phoenix Rising Soccer Complex.

Rising FC finishes the season in third place with a 19-8-7 record and 64 points. In 2018, the club set records for most wins, most points, and most goals in season. Forward Chris Cortez also set the club record for most goals in a season (17) and goalkeeper Carl Woszczynski set the club record for most clean sheets in a season (12).

Phoenix Rising created plenty of chances over the night, taking 22 shots over the course of 90 minutes. But the back of the net proved elusive.

The most heartbreaking sequence of the match occurred in the first half. Jason Johnson beat his defender and the goalkeeper in the air to get a header toward the frame. His shot hit the right post and bounced to Solomon Asante, who had an open net in front of him. But his shot smacked the crossbar and went into the south stands to end the threat.

Phoenix Rising will see Timbers 2 again in the first round of the USL Playoffs presented by Arizona Complete Health on Friday, October 19 at 7:30 p.m. It will be the club’s first-ever home playoff match and it’ll be a blackout with the first 3,000 fans receiving blackout t-shirt from Arizona Complete Health. It will also be a $1 Beer Night presented by Bud Light.

Seats remain but are in limited quantity. Fans can purchase tickets by going to PHXRisingFC.com.