PRFC To Celebrate Club’s First Ever USL Supporters Shield With Final $1 Beer Night Of Regular Season

PRFC celebrates their 2019 USL Regular Season Title Friday @ CAZ Field

The 2019 season has certainly given Phoenix Rising FC fans a slew of incredible memories – although admittedly, anything short of a USL Cup Championship would be a disappointment for a club that played fantastic technical and counter attacking football all year long with a team that meshed perfectly – allowing them to set a American professional soccer record for consecutive victories in league play – 20 – five more than the previous record holders, the 95-96 LA Galaxy of MLS.

But Friday night, on the last $1 Beer Night of the 2019 regular season, PRFC will be set to give their fans the greatest memory they have had so far this year – and are primed to take all three points in the process. The Rising (23W-6D-4L, 75 Pts, 1st Place – USL West) take on the OKC Energy (9W-11D-13L, 15th Place, USL West) at 7:30 PM at Casino Arizona Field – with the game being followed by the presentation of the 2019 USL Supporters Shield to PRFC for finishing top of the overall table in the USL. A win on Friday would give them the best overall finishing point total of any side in USL history, and let’s face it – this team will not be looking to celebrate on their home field after a 2nd consecutive loss after last week’s controversial 2-1 flop against Real Monarchs, where the Rising outclassed RSL’s “2” team for most of the game, but due to some creative rule application and a slip from goalkeeper Zac Lubin late in the match, dropped all three points for the first time at home in 2019.

West Standings:

Rising have clinched the top record in the Championship. At 15th, OKC is officially eliminated from contention. #11 NMU and #12 LVL are the only two teams that could jump into as far north at 9th and into the USL play-in round on the final match day.

What To Watch For / PRFC

Expect the Rising to come out at close to full strength. Even though they may have playoff positioning locked up after a dominant regular season campaign, dropping their last two home games before heading into the USL Cup Playoffs would raise questions as to their ability to finish the job. The Rising should come out firing at 110% early and will attempt to take over this match quickly.

Ben Spencer may get the start as the target man over Adam Jahn. Spencer’s 4th goal in 5 matches tied last week’s game with Real at 1 late in the match and his his key goal in the 4-1 over LA Galaxy II that was called off early due to fan disruption stood as the goal that gave Phoenix a 3 goal lead with under 20 minutes to play – a lead good enough in the USL rule book to give the Rising 3 points in a called off game.

Who starts in the net? Lubin has looked a little shaky in his last few starts (and gave up the game winner through his hands last Saturday against Real), but Woz hasn’t looked particularly good at all this year, minus perhaps the 2-2 (4-3 AET) loss to NMU in the US Open Cup. I expect Lubin to get the start as a vote of confidence from Schantz as switching #1 keepers this late in the year is risky and frankly, Lubin deserves the shot as the top man between the pipes for PRFC.

Look for a big game from Solomon Asante. After two penalty misses against Fresno FC, he’s looked a little off. I expect him to be focused and score multiple goals against a weak OKC side, especially with Junior Flemmings returning to PRFC after an absence for the Jamaican National Team, where he scored the team’s final goal in a 5-0 rout of Haiti.

Despite the loss, PRFC were almost dominant on the field for a vast majority of last Saturday’s game, and paired with very poor officiating, still lost the game on a fluke. This was against a top 4 side in the West and I can’t imagine the Rising putting out that kind of performance against Real or any other side again and not coming out with 3 points. This team has no reason to lack confidence, and I think you’ll see them come out early with a couple goals and then let the party begin. The Rising are 20-0-0 when scoring first in 2019.

Watch To Watch for: OKC Energy

Unfortunately, the Energy no longer feature Mike “AWOL” DaFonte, who shockingly, left the club near the end of the season, much like he did to the Rising during the 2018 USL playoffs, when replaced by Tristan Blackmon in the starting XI. After a really solid season from DaFonte, his stock across the league dropped, and he was unsigned until nearly a month into the season and had a really unremarkable campaign for OKC.

The Rising have won their last four matches against the Energy, including a 4-1 meeting earlier this season in Oklahoma City, where the Rising took all three points despite being down to 10 men for the vast majority of the game.

OKC’s road form is mediocre at best, at 4-7-3 on the year, and they haven’t won a match in their last 5 games.

The Rising have three players (Asante, Flemmings, Jahn) who have scored 15 or more goals in 2019. OKC’s leading scorer is Deshorn Brown with 14 goals.

Be on the lookout for keeper Codi Laurendi, however. He’s been capped 5 times by the Puerto Rico National Team, and is considered their #1 keeper. He’s talented and a USL veteran and if he gets the nod tomorrow, could be a source of frustration for PRFC – remember back to matches like the Colorado Springs match with Abraham Rodriguez, or last week’s match against the Monarchs.

Making History? How It Goes Down:

The bottom line is, on paper, this one looks like a gimme for PRFC. But after some shaky performances over the last few matches, and a chance to celebrate the franchise’s crowning achievement (so far) post game, I doubt that the side will want to celebrate without grabbing 3 points in the process. 3 points also sets one more record for the Rising – the best regular season point total in USL Championship history – 78, breaking FC Cincy’s 2018 record of 77. The game is practically sold to to the brim, and this will be the highest attended game so far this year – and one of the most raucous. The Rising are 14-0-0 on Dollar Beer Night, and have risen to the occasion at times like this in 2019. Here’s how I expect the side to lineup:

You may see Farrell switched out for Mala, and Jose switched out for PLV, but he’s seemed to be absent recently, and unless he’s going to feature regularly in the playoffs, can’t see him featuring tomorrow night.

My Prediction: The Rising come on strong early in front of a great home crowd and will want to bring down the house with a huge win on Dollar Beer Night before we celebrate our first ever USL Regular Season Title. Rising 4-1.

This is going to be a special night for many of us who have followed this team so closely. While we have a few more games to go (knock on wood) before we really get to the big game, this game will be the culmination of an incredible regular season and our biggest piece of silverware to date as a franchise. Get it done, boys. Thank you for your incredible play, class, and respect and bond with the fans you have forged throughout 2019. Let’s finish the job.