The Gazette’s Switchbacks FC Best XI was selected using polls conducted on social media platforms. Players who competed in the club’s first five seasons, 2015-2019, were eligible to be selected. Members of all five teams are represented.

Center forward

Mike Seth

Seth produced most of his goals during the first of his two stints with Switchbacks FC. The 6-foot-1 forward scored a total of 14 goals for the club, including the first in Switchbacks history, with 12 coming in the 2015 and 2016 seasons.

After scoring eight goals and adding two assists in 2016, Seth left for Phoenix Rising and later San Antonio. He returned for the 2019 season, scoring two goals and tallying three assists. Seth made 82 appearances for the club over three seasons, adding eight assists in total.

Seth, whose nickname “Wolverine” seemed to stick after he scored twice in the club’s 2016 “Superhero Night” while sporting a bushy beard, narrowly edged out Marty Maybin, another fan favorite, for the spot atop the formation.

Left wing

Saeed Robinson

Robinson likely won’t go down as the greatest goal scorer in club history, but he should be remembered for his ability to score great goals. Robinson’s curled shot from outside the area against Seattle Sounders II in 2018 was voted the club’s goal of the year.

Robinson, a key part of the club’s counterattack thanks to his speed, scored a total of five goals for the club between 2015 and 2016 before moving to North Carolina FC. He returned for two more seasons, scoring five goals and adding two assists in 2018, his most productive season with the club, He added four more goals in 2019.

The Jamaican won one of the more competitive votes, beating out Masta Kacher and Miguel Gonzalez.

Robinson moved to El Paso Locomotive ahead of the 2020 season after scoring 14 goals, setting up three others and making 114 appearances across four seasons.

Right wing

Shane Malcolm

The only hat trick in club history belongs to Malcolm, who scored three of his 14 goals for the club in the 2019 season opener at LA Galaxy II. The winger earned United Soccer League Championship player of the week for his efforts in the 4-1 win.

Malcolm joined the Switchbacks in 2017 and spent the next three years with the club, scoring at least five goals and recording at least two assists each season. His most productive year came in 2018 when he tallied six goals, tied for the team-high, and added as many assists.

In total, Malcolm made 94 appearances for Colorado Springs and likely would’ve hit the 100 mark had he not missed a handful of matches while he was on international duty with Guam’s national team.

Malcolm is without a team at the moment but is busy enough. He and his girlfriend recently welcomed the arrival of his first child, and he’s still making music under the pseudonym “Komodo Dragon.”

Attacking midfielder

Luke Vercollone

Simply put, Vercollone was the best player on the best Switchbacks teams.

The club’s first signing, Vercollone scored 15 goals, including one in the team’s playoff run, and recorded eight assists in the club’s inaugural 2015 season. He made the USL first team and was a finalist for league MVP. He was unanimously voted as the attacking midfielder for the Best XI and is The Gazette’s honorary captain after wearing the armband for the club’s most successful seasons in 2015 and 2016.

The Seton Hall graduate, who made a handful of appearances with Major League Soccer side New England Revolution, retired after the 2018 season, his fourth with the Switchbacks.

Vercollone was the first player to record 100 appearances for the club, finishing with 110. He remains the club leader in career goals, finishing with 30 across all competitions, and assists in USL play with 14.

Vercollone remains in Colorado Springs where he works for Save the Storks, a pro-life organization, while raising a young family with his wife.

Center midfielder

Rony Argueta

Argueta has brought a mindset to midfield that has been respected by both of the club’s Coaches.

Steve Trittschuh offered the California native his first professional contract ahead of the 2015 season, and Argueta repaid the gesture by making a combined 55 appearances in 2015 and 2016, including more than 200 playoff minutes across three matches.

Trittschuh brought Argueta back in 2019 after he spent a year with Fresno FC, and Argueta made 31 appearances in 2019 despite Trittschuh being fired midway through the season. The tough and versatile midfielder remained a fixture in the starting 11 for interim coach Wolde Harris, and Alan Koch decided to bring him back for the coach’s first full season with the club in 2020.

In total, Argueta has made 124 appearances in black and blue, recording five goals and five assists.

Defensive midfielder

Jordan Schweitzer

Schweitzer’s time in Colorado Springs coincided with the club’s worst two seasons, but his ability was appreciated by the fans, as he garnered a large majority of the votes despite going up against Shintaro Harada and Davy Armstrong, members of more successful teams.

In 2018 and 2019, Schweitzer made at least 34 appearances and played nearly 3,000 minutes in each season. He scored his only Colorado Springs goal in 2019 and finished with five assists across the two seasons. The University of Denver product and former Seattle Sounders homegrown player spent some of the 2019 preseason with the Colorado Rapids.

He came to the Switchbacks after Orlando City disbanded its USL team and left for Phoenix Rising, which finished the 2019 season atop the Western Conference, ahead of the 2020 season.

Left back

Josh Suggs

The 2018 captain spent three seasons racing up and down the left side at Weidner Field, making 98 appearances for the Switchbacks between 2016 and 2018.

The left back joined the club for 2016, its most recent playoff season, from Orange County and went on to make 33 appearances that season, including all 90 minutes of the lone playoff game. He finished his first season in Colorado Springs with two goals and an assist and earned a spot on the league’s second team.

In 2017 and 2018, he scored two goals in each season and produced at least seven assists. Thanks in part to his left-footed set pieces, Suggs is the club's career leader with 16 assists between USL and U.S. Open Cup play.

Suggs returned to his home state ahead of the 2019 season and captained New Mexico United to the playoffs in the club’s first season.

The left back returned to United for the 2020 season after making 29 appearances in 2019, scoring one goal and recording four assists. He beat out Ish Jome, who proved to be his replacement in Colorado Springs in 2019, in the fan vote.

Center backs

Jamal Jack

Jack was one of just three players to be voted to the all-time squad despite playing less than three seasons in Colorado Springs.

The physical defender, who won fans over with his fearless play and critical tackles, joined the Switchbacks from Pittsburgh Riverhounds ahead of the 2018 season when he started every league match and played more than 3,000 minutes. Jack scored his lone goal when he headed home a corner kick from Josh Suggs in a win at Reno in 2018.

Jack returned in 2019 and continued to be a fixture in Steve Trittschuh’s starting lineup only to see a shoulder injury remove him from the mix for a few months of the season.

In the offseason, the Trinidad and Tobago native, who owns two international appearances, moved to Jocoro FC, a team in El Salvador’s top division.

Josh Phillips

The Gonzaga alumni was a mainstay on the back line for the first three seasons of Switchbacks FC, making a total of 81 appearances between 2015 and 2017 and playing in all three of the club’s postseason matches.

Phillips scored two of his three professional goals and recorded all three of his assists in black and blue. He scored once in each of the 2015 and 2016 regular seasons and set up three goals in 2017.

He left the Switchbacks before the 2018 season, playing one final season for Portland Timbers 2. He announced his retirement from soccer after the 2018 season.

According to his verified Instagram account, Phillips remains in the Pacific Northwest where he’s the owner of Spawn Fly Fish, an Olympia, Wash., company that donates 2% of profits to conservation organizations.

Right back

Jordan Burt

Burt became the only player to don a Switchbacks uniform in all six seasons when he started and played the entirety of the 2020 season opener against Oklahoma City, a 2-1 Switchbacks win.

In his years in Colorado Springs, Burt, the 2019 captain, has probably played as many positions. He’s often listed as a right back but has also appeared at center back and forward and filled various roles in the midfield.

Burt led the Switchbacks with seven league goals in 2019, tied for the top spot with six the year before and was second on the team with eight goals in 2017. He also scored in each of the last three years in the U.S. Open Cup.

In total, the Butler graduate has made more appearances than any other player with 155, logging time in at least 24 matches in each season. Burt has scored 27 goals and added three assists across all competitions.

Goalkeeper

Devala Gorrick

The primary keeper in 2015 and 2016, Gorrick was between the posts for all 300 minutes the club has played in the USL postseason.

Gorrick made four saves in the Switchbacks’ lone playoff win, a 2-0 result against the club formerly known as Seattle Sounders 2.

He allowed 55 goals in 53 appearances and posted 24 clean sheets with the club. His 14 shutouts in 28 regular-season games in 2016, when he conceded 22 goals, earned Gorrick second-team honors from the USL.

After stints in Thailand, Sweden and Canada, Gorrick returned to the states to play in the Springs. After two seasons with the Switchbacks, the keeper moved on to Saint Louis FC for the 2017 season and hasn’t played professionally since.

The veteran keeper has filled his time with business ventures related to the game. He runs Cognitive Goalkeeping, an academy for youth goalies in the Denver area, and Futbox Company, an apparel company that sends boxes of gear to customers.