Jearl Margaritha scored his second goal of 2025, while Patrick Rakovsky saved two penalties
Playing with 10 men for a large chunk of the second half and all of added time, Phoenix Rising held tough to see the match into penalty kicks and ultimately advance to the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Round of 32 following a 1-1 draw against FC Tulsa on April 16 at Hurricane Soccer and Track Stadium.
Following the match, Rising Head Coach Pa-Modou Kah discussed his team’s resilience and relishing the moment, while goalkeeper Patrick Rakovsky discussed his late-game heroics and maintaining momentum to close out a three-match week.
HEAD COACH PA-MODOU KAH
General thoughts on the match…
“What an unbelievable performance from the whole group. An unbelievable performance from the staff. It shows the character and resilience that this group possess. Things didn’t go the way we wanted it, but these are the victories that will push the team forward. We’re going to use it as momentum for us going forward.”
On balancing substitutions with multiple matches…
“We have to take in the moment of what we did today. So far in the season, things have not gone our way. The boys gave it all, which shows how fit they are. That’s also thanks to our performance coach Devon (Manifold), because they are fit and showed it today. The subs were pushed, the players that were in were pushed. The whole group went deep-down to push for this victory and that was incredible.”
On Patrick Rakovsky’s performance…
“We know together with Triston (Henry) and Patrick, they are two of the best keepers we have in this league. Again, it showed. It showed the capability that Patrick has, and we hope he can kick on, together with Triston, to keep leading and guiding this team.”
GOALKEEPER PATRICK RAKOVSKY
On his overall thoughts on the match…
“Overall, we had a good game. The start was very difficult, and the wind was very strong heading against us, so we had to play out of the back. In the second half, we had the wind at our backs which made it much easier to play out a little better. We scored the first goal and I feel we could have scored two or three goals this game.
We were unlucky with the red card, but it should not happen. I felt the team dealt with it well. We were defending good and unlucky with the goal before the end. After that, we knew we had to defend really well, and we did. (Tulsa) played 50 minutes with one man more. They didn’t create a lot of chances, only two chances really. I saved the PK, which gave us the momentum and then we were ice-cold in front of the box and scored all the penalties. It was awesome.”
On the importance of bouncing back with a win Wednesday night…
“This should give us huge momentum to the next game. It’s not like we played bad. Last game there were five minutes where we weren’t there, but other than that we played really well. Now, with this game, we should have great momentum to go into the next game, play in front of our home fans and get that first win.”
On preparing quickly for a weekend match…
“We travel back (to Phoenix), then it’s all about recovery. It’s good we play in three days again. I’m really happy we can play again and don’t need to wait another week.”
