PHOENIX, Arizona (Saturday, March 23) – Phoenix Rising FC (1-2-0) picked up a 1-0 shutout win at home tonight in front of 6,036 fans vs. Oakland Roots SC (1-1-1) thanks to a second half goal from Panos Armenakas.
The goal was set up by a stellar run down the left side by Juan Carlos Azocar.
“I’m delighted for the players,” said Rising Head Coach Danny Stone, who picked up the first win of his head coaching career. “It’s been a couple of weeks where we asked some questions and they continued to work. Tonight, I felt the team completely deserved a victory. The effort and performance they gave tonight was deserving of a victory.”
Rising is back at home next Saturday, March 30 vs. New Mexico United at 7:30 p.m.
Tonight’s match began with Rising holding Oakland in its defensive third of the field and producing several quality scoring chances leading up to the 14th minute, when Dariusz Formella cracked a hard shot on goal from the right side of the box. Oakland goalkeeper Paul Blanchette was there to make a diving save to his right side. A second chance was blocked off the line by a Roots defender, then Erickson Gallardo ripped a third shot towards goal, but the attempt sizzled a few inches over the crossbar.
Formella nearly was the recipient of a goalkeeping error from Blanchette in the 32nd minute. The ball deflected away from the goalkeeper, off to his left side. Formella was first to the ball, hitting a first touch shot on goal, but Blanchette recovered in time to make another diving save to his left side to keep Phoenix off the board.
Blanchette was at it again in the 40th minute, making yet another highlight reel save, diving low to his left side to stop an attempt from Renzo Zambrano.
Rising finally broke through four minutes into the second half when the ball was sent out wide to Azocar, who was making his first start of the season. Azocar sprinted at Oakland’s back line and found a way through via Formella, who laid off a perfect, one-touch return pass. Azocar picked out the run of Armenakas and the midfielder finished off the chance to give Phoenix the 1-0 victory.
Phoenix produced six shots on goal in the win while limiting Oakland to zero shots on target, giving Rocco Rios Novo and the Rising defense its first clean sheet of the season.
Scoring:
PHX – Panos Armenakas (JC Azocar) 49
Discipline:
OAK – Paul Blanchette (caution) 38
OAK – Gagi Margvelashvili (caution) 45
PHX – Renzo Zambrano (caution) 51
OAK – Cam Riley (caution) 54
PHX – Mo Traore (caution) 61
PHX – Jose Hernandez (caution) 67
OAK – Guillermo Diaz (caution) 73
OAK – Etgar Cruz (caution) 90+8
Lineups:
Phoenix Rising FC – Rocco Rios Novo, Laurence Wyke, Pape Mar Boye, Mo Traore, Edguardo Rito, JC Azocar (Gabi Torres 77), Jose Andres Hernandez (JP Scearce 83), Renzo Zambrano, Panos Armenakas (Emil Cuello 90+2), Erickson Gallardo (Fede Varela 77), Dariusz Formella.
Substitutes Not Used: Patrick Rakovsky, Remi Cabral, Gabi Torres, Gio Doratiotto, Remi Cabral, Odle, Smuck.
Oakland Roots – Paul Blanchette, Baboucarr Njie (Ilya Alekseev 86), Niall Logue, Gagi Margvelashvili, Cam Riley (Etgar Cruz 77) , Daniel Gomez, Justin Rasmussen, Jonathan Rodriguez (Napo Matsoso 58), Jeciel Cedeno, Guillermo Diaz, Miche-Naider Chery.
Substitutes Not Used: Javier Bedolla Vera, Kieran Bracken Serra, Thomas Camier, Timothy Syrel.
