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USL Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC

Switchbacks FC Earn Second Clean Sheet Against New Mexico

August 27, 2022 - United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC News Release


Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC on the field
Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC on the field
(Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC)

Colorado Springs, CO - The Switchbacks FC earned a huge win in a thriller of a match against New Mexico United, ending the night 1-0.

The Switchbacks dominated the field in the first half of the match, holding 64% of the possession with an 84.4% passing accuracy. #10 Hadji Barry had a great push in the 12th minute after some fancy footwork to keep the ball. New Mexico played really defensively in the first half, playing with five in the back and not making a lot of pushes to thread the ball, resulting in zero shots on the net for them in the first forty five.

The first and only goal of the night came in the 38th minute, as Barry earned his 16th goal of the season. A beautiful pass from #14 Jairo Henriquez crossed from midfield landed right on Barry's boot, and some quick footwork saw the ball sail past the New Mexico goalkeeper into the top right corner of the net.

The Switchbacks refused to sit back in the second half and by the 72nd minute had made 425 passes. New Mexico struggled to keep possession of the ball and had no attempted shot for thirty minutes straight in the second half of the match. A last final push from NM required some big saves from Colorado Springs goal keeper #1 Jeff Caldwell, including a clutch grab in the 95th minute that would be the save of the game.

The Switchbacks will return to Weidner Field Saturday September 3rd as they host Phoenix Rising FC for their Cancer Awareness Night.

Quotes

Brendan Burke

Overall thoughts:

"I thought we protected our home field. Hadji [Barry] scored a good goal, I thought we had the better chances for the most part, until really late, and we defended like animals again for the second week in a row. If we do that, we have a chance to win against anybody in this league, and we've proved that with the quality of the last two teams we've beat here and kept clean sheets."

On the forwards coming all the way to the back to play defensively:

"Michee [Ngalina], Jairo [Hneriquez], Elvis [Amoh], Hadji [Barry], and Malik [Johnson] before he got hurt - I would argue we have the best front four in the league, but also because they do the dirty work, all of them do the dirty work and that's what gets you through tough and tight games like this."

On the momentum shift of Barry's goal:

"Well I think the game would have stretched and become end to end if we hadn't gotten that goal, because we'd both be chasing it. We both knew what was on the line tonight, which was some separation in that home playoff chase, and we got the separation so we couldn't be happier."

Matt Mahoney:

On a big 1-0 win against NM:

"It's huge, I mean, after the little run we went through with giving up a lot of goals, to get two 1-0 wins back to back, that speaks volumes to just fighting through the struggle, and now we're back to where we should be. It's just huge. I mean, they were three points behind us and now we're separated by six points. San Diego lost, San Antonio lost [tonight]. So it's a huge three points for morale, these games are going to be 1-0 wins from now on, they're not going to be 4-2, 4-0 games, so we have to grind it out and we did tonight."

On keeping the clean sheet when New Mexico started to put on the pressure:

"It was a full team effort. If you see from Hadji [Barry] up top, and Elvis [Amoh] and Michee [Ngalina] and all those guys, they all went to the back and were working for each other. When those guys are doing what they can do offensively, we need to do the things that we can do defensively to keep them from scoring. They didn't have too many chances and I think we did really well. So like I said it was a full team effort and we're able to walk away with a win."

On capitalizing on the momentum:

"I think we have a fantastic record, I'm not sure exactly what it is, but I think its like eight or nine wins when we score first, so we know if we score first and keep them off the board, then we're going to win. And that's actually crazy when we're going from scoring three to four goals and now to 1-, so it's changed a lot in the last eight games, and now we have seven left. It's huge momentum against two teams now in two games that are at the top, so our momentum is building at a perfect time."

Jeff Caldwell:

On back to back clean sheets:

"It feels good, I think that's an understatement. Obviously we talked last week about making this part of our identity, instead of a blip, and obviously stringing two together against two high powered teams is a step in that direction. It will only get more and more challenging down the stretch, but if we keep doing these things and making it a part of our DNA, then that's a playoff team. Playoff games are 1 nil games. If we can show some resilience and grit like we have two weeks in a row, we didn't just steal these at the end we put ourselves ahead and then we had to make sure we saw it out, if we can do that consistently we are very dangerous."

On New Mexico's last minute chances:

"It was blocked as well. It was a great recovery, I'm not sure who got a part of it, but they get a piece of that, Jimmy [Ockford] or Matt [Mahoney], and that's all you can ask. That's why clean sheets are collective, it's not a goalkeeper's success or a back lines' success, it's the boys up front who ran their asses off tonight, and I think this is one of the best games I've ever been a part of in terms of guys picking up second balls, Stevie [Echevarria] and Bev [Makangila] were immense, everyone was. Getting those first balls and those second balls, that's what it's going to take."

On the front line moving back to cover:

"There was a moment in the first half where Hadji [Barry] had a look up and realized Bret [Halsey] had pushed forward and we needed to cover, and he sprinted 85 yards to take away what would have been a very dangerous moment with Moreno coming at us. I think that was something that was difficult an ask during a really busy stretch. Those are the moments, the big pieces where when those guys are always willing to do the running, and they are always willing and able, it makes a huge difference."

Hadji Barry

On back to back 1 nil wins against two big teams

"It's very important. We've been talking about this all season and we've been going through ups and downs and we just know that we have to bring a lot more effort defensively because we know our offense is very talented, and we've been scoring goals all season, but the problem was we were just leaking a lot of goals in. We just want to take these things personally, and it wasn't just on the defense or the goalkeeper, it was the on the whole team. Me, the last guy up there, from Michee [Ngalina] to Elvis [Amoh], everybody needs to be defending. It feels great to get two wins in a row, and these are the most important wins to appreciate so it feels great.."

On the front playing defensively:

"This game is a team game, and we just can't put all that pressure on the defense. Of course we asked them to level up a little bit and they did that, but they can't do that by themselves, we have to help them and do it all as a team and we've been doing that the last two games."

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Game Statistics:

Man of the Match: Hadji Barry

Scoring Summary// COS: Barry (39') |

Saves// COS: Caldwell (1) | : Tambakis (2)

Discipline// COS: YC: Ockford (25'); Rayyan (49');| NM: YC: Frater (28'); Preston (89')

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Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC on the field
Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC on the field
   

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