Playoff bound: Phoenix Rising FC squeaks into USL Championship postseason, readies for Saturday’s finale

by Julia Thompson
  • Slug: Sports–Phoenix Rising Playoffs, 570 words.
  • 2 photos available.

By Cooper Burns
Cronkite News

PHOENIX – Phoenix Rising FC will not go down without defending its crown.

For the seventh time in the last eight seasons, Rising clinched a USL postseason spot, but the news came in the wake of the reigning champion’s 1-0 loss Saturday against Memphis 901.

Rising needed help to secure a playoff season and they got it as all the dominoes fell the right way to slot Rising into the playoff bracket.

The Oakland Roots beat the Las Vegas Lights, former Rising coach Danny Stone and Orange County drew against New Mexico United and San Antonio drew against Louisville City FC.

Rising currently sits in eighth place, three points above San Antonio for the final spot. Even though Rising was only three points above the cutline, they clinched based on a goal-differential tiebreaker with San Antonio.

However, Rising interim coach Diego Gomez left Phoenix Rising FC Stadium less than satisfied with his team’s performance in the final home game of the regular season.

“Honestly we wanted to win at home, so we are not happy with the result,” he said after the match Saturday. “I know we clinched the playoffs, but the feeling is still the fact that we did not win at home.”

Rising has plenty of reason to compete in their final regular-season game Saturday against Louisville City FC, the top seed in the Eastern Conference. While Louisville City may rest some of their players, Phoenix could jump into sixth place with a win and help from teams around the league.

After the loss, Gomez said that he is completely focused on Louisville, and it will be a great test for them heading into the playoffs.

“We want to go to Louisville and win the three points. It’s going to be a tough away game, but we are going to need to do it on the road also in the playoffs,” he said. “It’s going to be a great test for us and a great way to go and test us against a really tough opponent.”

Improved playoff seeding for Rising potentially may mean a closer location and easier opponent. Even a move into seventh place in the standings could be the difference between traveling to Las Vegas instead of Albuquerque or Memphis. The official seeding and playoff bracket will be decided after this weekend’s games.

The road to the playoffs for Rising this season has been anything but easy. Just six months into the season, Rising fired first-year manager Stone with a record of 5-6-6, good enough for seventh in the Western Conference. Instead of improved play after the coaching change, the season kept spiraling.

Rising won just one of their first six games after the coaching change and slipped to 10th place in the conference.

For the fans, the remainder of the season was a roller coaster of emotions. Through August and September, Rising bounced above and below the playoff cutline. In August, Rising had a record of 1-1-2. In September, Rising had a record of 2-3-0, which bumped them up to seventh in the Western Conference.

Ultimately, a small two-game road win streak in October against New Mexico and Oakland pushed them into the playoffs. But after Rising snuck into the postseason, Gomez isn’t ready to put the regular-season struggles in the past just yet.

“I hope we can carry this bad taste into the playoffs,” he said.

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Phoenix Rising fans celebrate Saturday’s home loss against Memphis as their club clinched a place in the USL Championship playoffs. (Photo courtesy of Phoenix Rising FC)
Emil Cuello receives a pass and scans the field for attacking options during Phoenix Rising FC’s 1-0 loss to Memphis Saturday. (Photo courtesy of Phoenix Rising FC)