The Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC look to hit the reset button as they head west to face the Las Vegas Lights FC at Cashman Field on Saturday evening. Last Saturday saw the Switchbacks fall 2-0 to visiting El Paso Locomotive FC as the Switchbacks lost defender Jamal Jack to a shoulder injury midway through the first half.
“Jamal is having surgery today,” confirmed Switchbacks Head Coach Steve Trittschuh on Wednesday morning in Colorado Springs. “He’s probably out for at least three months. We’ll see what they find during the surgery, but three months is the initial prognoses. We’re down to bare bones now as a team. Cesar [Romero] is gone and Saeed [Robinson] is still out. It’s not good for our preparation, but hopefully we can go to Vegas and play without any more injuries.”
“Losing Jamal is huge – especially defensively,” said midfielder Rony Argueta. “He wins a lot of tackles and aerial balls so we’ll miss that and we know that everyone now will need to step up.”
“Jamal and I have only played together a couple of times, but we had a good thing going,” said center back Kris Reaves. “As a group we’ve got to keep going and be resilient, but of course being without Jamal is a huge loss. If Sam [Raben] and I can get a good partnership we can help the team. Mentally we need a good week of training and we need to go out and give our best – it’ll be tough in Vegas, but we’ll be ready.”
Raben was brought on to replace Jack against the Locomotive FC, with the former Wake Forest Demon Deacon and current member of the Colorado Rapids slotting in alongside Reaves in central defense.
“At the end of the day, we don’t want to lose players for any reason,” said Jordan Schweitzer. “We just hope we can get Jamal back as soon as possible. In every game there’s been things we’ve done well, but we just haven’t been able to put it together yet. We can’t focus on things that are out of our hands – we just need to go out to Vegas and not worry about the crowd or the injuries and just play our game.”
Head Coach Eric Wynalda’s Lights FC are enjoying a good start to the 2019 USL Championship season and have scored nine goals in their last two matches at Cashman Field. On April 13th, the Lights destroyed the Tacoma Defiance 5-0 behind a hat-trick from captain Irvin Parra and a brace by Cameroonian striker Tabort Etaka Preston. Parra added another goal to his season tally last Saturday to help power the Lights past visiting Sacramento Republic FC in Las Vegas, in a match where he also had two assists. Parra was named a starter on the USL Championship Team of the Week after his exploits against Sacramento Republic FC.
Parra leads the Lights in goals with 5, and is tied with Christian Hernandez for the team-lead in assists with 3. Las Vegas native, and former Bishop Gorman High School standout Thomas Olsen is the Lights’ undisputed number one goalkeeper and has kept four clean sheets in the 2019 USL Championship.
“Eric [Wynalda] has been organizing the team and they’re a good squad,” said Trittschuh. “Going to Vegas is difficult, but it’s not the circus that it was last year. They’re a good team so we have to be ready to play. Again; we’re really down to the bare bones in terms of the squad. It doesn’t get any easier for us after Vegas with the Open Cup and then New Mexico. We’ve just got to prepare for it together and deal with the injuries we have. Right now we just have no depth. We’ll get two academy players on the bench and we’ll play some guys in Vegas who haven’t had a lot of time this season – we just hope they step up and that we steer clear of any more injuries.”
The Switchbacks and Lights traded wins in 2018, with Steve Trittschuh’s men winning 1-0 at Weidner Field in Colorado Springs on May 11th before falling 4-1 on June 2nd in Sin City. On September 28th the Las Vegas Lights FC will visit Weidner Field with Fox 21 News sponsoring a bobblehead giveaway for the first 500 fans.
“We’ve got to continue to work and find solutions and fix things,” said Rony Argueta. “Staying together and staying positive and working as a group is the most important thing for us right now.”
The Switchbacks will return to Weidner Field on the 18th to host high-flying New Mexico United. General Dynamics will be sponsoring a vuvuzela giveaway for the first 500 fans through the gates for the match against New Mexico United, with the Switchbacks looking to post a vital win in the race for the inaugural Four Corners Cup.
The Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC look to hit the reset button as they head west to face the Las Vegas Lights FC at Cashman Field on Saturday evening. Last Saturday saw the Switchbacks fall 2-0 to visiting El Paso Locomotive FC as the Switchbacks lost defender Jamal Jack to a shoulder injury midway through the first half.
“Jamal is having surgery today,” confirmed Switchbacks Head Coach Steve Trittschuh on Wednesday morning in Colorado Springs. “He’s probably out for at least three months. We’ll see what they find during the surgery, but three months is the initial prognoses. We’re down to bare bones now as a team. Cesar [Romero] is gone and Saeed [Robinson] is still out. It’s not good for our preparation, but hopefully we can go to Vegas and play without any more injuries.”
“Losing Jamal is huge – especially defensively,” said midfielder Rony Argueta. “He wins a lot of tackles and aerial balls so we’ll miss that and we know that everyone now will need to step up.”
“Jamal and I have only played together a couple of times, but we had a good thing going,” said center back Kris Reaves. “As a group we’ve got to keep going and be resilient, but of course being without Jamal is a huge loss. If Sam [Raben] and I can get a good partnership we can help the team. Mentally we need a good week of training and we need to go out and give our best – it’ll be tough in Vegas, but we’ll be ready.”
Raben was brought on to replace Jack against the Locomotive FC, with the former Wake Forest Demon Deacon and current member of the Colorado Rapids slotting in alongside Reaves in central defense.
“At the end of the day, we don’t want to lose players for any reason,” said Jordan Schweitzer. “We just hope we can get Jamal back as soon as possible. In every game there’s been things we’ve done well, but we just haven’t been able to put it together yet. We can’t focus on things that are out of our hands – we just need to go out to Vegas and not worry about the crowd or the injuries and just play our game.”
Head Coach Eric Wynalda’s Lights FC are enjoying a good start to the 2019 USL Championship season and have scored nine goals in their last two matches at Cashman Field. On April 13th, the Lights destroyed the Tacoma Defiance 5-0 behind a hat-trick from captain Irvin Parra and a brace by Cameroonian striker Tabort Etaka Preston. Parra added another goal to his season tally last Saturday to help power the Lights past visiting Sacramento Republic FC in Las Vegas, in a match where he also had two assists. Parra was named a starter on the USL Championship Team of the Week after his exploits against Sacramento Republic FC.
Parra leads the Lights in goals with 5, and is tied with Christian Hernandez for the team-lead in assists with 3. Las Vegas native, and former Bishop Gorman High School standout Thomas Olsen is the Lights’ undisputed number one goalkeeper and has kept four clean sheets in the 2019 USL Championship.
“Eric [Wynalda] has been organizing the team and they’re a good squad,” said Trittschuh. “Going to Vegas is difficult, but it’s not the circus that it was last year. They’re a good team so we have to be ready to play. Again; we’re really down to the bare bones in terms of the squad. It doesn’t get any easier for us after Vegas with the Open Cup and then New Mexico. We’ve just got to prepare for it together and deal with the injuries we have. Right now we just have no depth. We’ll get two academy players on the bench and we’ll play some guys in Vegas who haven’t had a lot of time this season – we just hope they step up and that we steer clear of any more injuries.”
The Switchbacks and Lights traded wins in 2018, with Steve Trittschuh’s men winning 1-0 at Weidner Field in Colorado Springs on May 11th before falling 4-1 on June 2nd in Sin City. On September 28th the Las Vegas Lights FC will visit Weidner Field with Fox 21 News sponsoring a bobblehead giveaway for the first 500 fans.
“We’ve got to continue to work and find solutions and fix things,” said Rony Argueta. “Staying together and staying positive and working as a group is the most important thing for us right now.”
The Switchbacks will return to Weidner Field on the 18th to host high-flying New Mexico United. General Dynamics will be sponsoring a vuvuzela giveaway for the first 500 fans through the gates for the match against New Mexico United, with the Switchbacks looking to post a vital win in the race for the inaugural Four Corners Cup.
