Las Vegas Lights FC Beats Switchbacks FC, 2-0, at Cashman
USL Las Vegas Lights FC

Las Vegas Lights FC Beats Switchbacks FC, 2-0, at Cashman

Published on May 23, 2026 under United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Las Vegas Lights FC News Release


Las Vegas Lights FC earned three valuable points at home against Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC for matchday ten of the USL Championship on Sunday afternoon (2-0).

The Lights took the lead at the death of the first half. Team captain Christian Pinzon won his flank and sent a low cross that was intercepted by goalkeeper Shutler. His rebound landed right in front of a perfectly placed Blake Pope, who elegantly stroked the ball into the top left corner of Shutler's net to score his first goal as a Lights player.

Johnny Rodriguez doubled the Lights' advantage in the 60th minute after taking advantage of another Colin Shutler rebound, using his poaching superpowers to slide past the Switchbacks' defensive line and shoot past the opposition's goalkeeper unmarked.

The rest of the match was smooth sailing for Vegas, who secured their third win at Cashman Field and extended their unbeaten streak at home to five matches.

Las Vegas will now prepare to face FC Tulsa on Saturday, May 30 in a key match to continue climbing the Western Conference standings.

What They're Saying

DEFENDER BLAKE POPE

On his goal...

Basically, we're moving around the back. Aaron switched the field. Nate played me, drove forward a little bit. A space opened up, and I saw Pinzon making the run on the right side, so I drove in a little bit, played Pinzon, and Pinzon put in a good ball. The keeper knocked it out and I took a touch with my thigh.

Luckily, it went to my right foot, and I just caught it sweetly on the half volley.

On how it feels to play at Cashman in front of the fans...

I mean, the fans could really see a difference from us. We need to obviously get better at the away games, but I feel like this is a great stepping stone for us.

We know we can do it at home, so we just need to show it in the away games as well.

On what the players take from this game that gives them belief that they can keep the streak going...

Obviously a win is a great, great momentum for us, so we just got to keep moving forward.

Obviously Colorado's a really good team, so we know we can do this against every team. We just need to show it.

HEAD COACH DEVIN RENSING

On his overall thoughts on the win...

Any win's a great win, you know... for us to play and get a win in front of our fans. The fans were fantastic tonight, urging us on and giving us a lot of energy.

Yeah, it was a well-deserved game. I thought our fullbacks, Themi and Blake Pope, defended excellent tonight.

I'm really happy to see Blake get a great goal, but it was a complete team effort and, you know, congrats to the guys.

On what about playing at home is working for the team...

The fans give us that energy. Playing at Cashman is... you know, you always want to play at home and we're putting together a good string of results here. We just need to keep it going. Keep the energy in the stadium going. We need to get a little bit better on the ball, finding better moments to attack and with balance. We just need to keep getting better and keep picking up points.

On what he has seen in Mason Stajduhar...

He brings a steady presence. You know, he's got great hands. He's just a steady presence back there. He's very mature, great in the locker room.

He wants to get better, always looking for information. He's just a really steady, calm presence.

Summary

Lights Starting XI:

Stajduhar (GK), Pope, Jones (Ofeimu, 87 ‚¬Â²), Guillen, Antonoglou, Pinzon (C) (Pickering, 87 ‚¬Â²), Scott (Locker, 81 ‚¬Â²), Ybarra, Anderson (Mines, 81 ‚¬Â²), Rodriguez (Forbes, 90+5 ‚¬Â²), Arteaga (Probo, 68 ‚¬Â²)

Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC Starting XI:

Shutler (GK), Rocha (Maples, 67 ‚¬Â²), Mahoney (C), Metusala (Kiingi, 82 ‚¬Â²), Burner, Williams, Creek, Hanya (Tejada, 67 ‚¬Â²), Magee (Daroma, 46 ‚¬Â²), Fjeldberg (Masereka, 46 ‚¬Â²), Bennett

Goals:

LV - Blake Pope - 45+2 ‚¬Â²

LV - Johnny Rodriguez - 60 ‚¬Â²

Discipline:

LV - Yellow, Christian Pinzon - 20 ‚¬Â²

COS - Yellow, Aidan Rocha - 38'

COS - Yellow, Sadam Masereka - 56'

LV - Yellow, Johnny Rodriguez - 73'

COS - Yellow, Patrick Burner - 90'

Next Up

The Lights will be back at home for their Aviators Night on May 30th where they will face FC Tulsa. Get tickets NOW at lightsfc.com/tickets.

Check out the Las Vegas Lights FC Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



United Soccer League Championship Stories from May 23, 2026


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central