Rapids 2 Falls to Houston in 2026 MLS NEXT Pro Season Opener
MLS NEXT Pro Colorado Rapids 2

Rapids 2 Falls to Houston in 2026 MLS NEXT Pro Season Opener

Published on March 2, 2026 under MLS NEXT Pro (MLS NEXT Pro)
Colorado Rapids 2 News Release


Colorado Rapids 2 (0-1-0, 0 pts.) fell to Houston Dynamo 2 (1-0-0, 3 pts.) on the road 2-0.

In a scoreless first half, Colorado fought hard defensively, stopping Houston's scoring opportunities and creating several chances of their own. Goalkeeper Zackory Campagnolo kept the match scoreless with multiple impressive saves, even sacrificing his body to stop a scoring chance. The hosts succeeded in limiting Colorado's attacks and shut down the few opportunities allowed in their defensive third.

Starting off the second half on a better foot, Rapids 2 displayed a new intensity and immediately found themselves in a goal-scoring position. Despite the shift in momentum, Houston would find the back of the net first in the 60th minute.

Though Rapids 2 exhibited a noticeable change in pace, it would not be enough to stop a shot from Houston's D'Allesandro Herrera in the 89th minute, putting Colorado down 2-0.

Colorado would fight until the very end but walked away with no results to show, ending the match with a 2-0 loss.

Rapids 2 will be on the road again next week against North Texas SC on Saturday, March 7. Kickoff at Choctaw Stadium in Arlington, Texas, is set for 6:30 p.m. MT with coverage available on OneFootball.com and MLSNEXTPro.com.

Notables:

Rapids 2 Debuts

Donavan Phillip, Bryce Jamison, Jabari De Coteau, Chris Aquino, Nathan Tchoumba

MLS NEXT Pro Debuts

Donavan Phillip, Bryce Jamison, Jabari De Coteau, Nathan Tchoumba

Rapids academy midfielder Landon Strohmeyer made his first professional start.

Lineups:

Colorado Rapids 2: Zackory Campagnolo, Jabari De Coteau, Charlie Harper [C], Vincent Rinaldi, Andre Erickson (86' Kai Thomas), Landon Strohmeyer (84' Nathan Tchoumba), Sydney Wathuta, Bryce Jamison (66' Chris Aquino), Kimani Stewart-Baynes (83' Josh Copeland), Donavan Phillip, Billo Diop

Unused substitutes: Kendall Starks, Rogelio Garcia, Noah Strellnauer

Houston Dynamo 2: Pedro Henrique de Oliveira Cruz [C], Gavin Wolff, Daniel Barrett, Isaac Mwakatuya, Felipe de Andrade Vieira (28' Noah Betancourt), Gilberto Rivera, Gustavo Dohmann (84' D'Alessandro Herrera), Matthew Arana (60' Diego Gonzalez), Arthur Sousa (28' Austin Brummett), Samir Mohammad (66' JJ Bell), Mattheo Dimareli

Unused substitutes: Vinicius Silva, Micah Harris, Logan Erb, Myles Gardner

Officials:

Referee: Deny Kulasinac; Assistants: Seth Warton, Laura Chambers Waliski ; Fourth Official: Emmy Nanso-Anyakwo

Check out the Colorado Rapids 2 Statistics

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