Lights expect changes after 1-1 draw with Tulsa
A home draw against one of the United Soccer League’s last four winless teams will come with repercussions for the Lights FC.
Midfielder Matt Thomas and defender Joel Huiqui will each pick up a one-game suspension, after the former received a red card and the latter earned his fifth yellow card. But coach Isidro Sanchez also said the team’s personnel could get a shakeup following the Lights’ 1-1 tie with Tulsa Roughnecks FC on Saturday in front of an announced crowd of 7,777 at Cashman Field.
“We are ashamed. We are a big, big shame,” Sanchez said. “They are coming: Big, big changes to this team.”
Sanchez said he was “really, really pissed off” after the game because he thought the Lights (2-1-4) should have been able to stop what Tulsa (0-3-4) did tactically easily. He believed his team showed a lack of fight, especially after a sharp beginning that resulted in midfielder Carlos Alvarez scoring his third goal in the 15th minute.
”We thought ‘This is going to be an easy team,’” Sanchez said. “We lose being humble, we lose everything.”
Las Vegas native Joaquin Rivas evened the score for the Roughnecks in the 44th minute and nearly had a go-ahead goal moments later, but Lights goalkeeper Ricardo Ferrino was able to punch his chance aside.
The two teams then played a scoreless, but eventful second half, with Huiqui getting a yellow card and a suspension minutes after the sprinklers went off and stopped play. Thomas then was sent off in the 72nd minute after earning the Lights’ third red card in three games, and the team was fortunate a late Tulsa goal was waved off.
“Today, we have (an opportunity), we smell it and we drop it,” Sanchez said.
The Lights held on a man down to salvage a point out of the game, but Sanchez said the team owed its fans a “big debt” after failing to match the crowd’s energy level. The supporters paid tribute to technical director Jose Luis Sanchez Sola, who was suspended by the USL for seven games on Friday for “referee assault,” before the game with chants and signs.
The fans chanted again seven minutes into the game to honor the length of the suspension.
Despite being unable to coach from the touchline, Sola still didn’t take the draw lightly. Following the game he took the Hardest Working Man of the Match award, given each home game to a standout Lights player, and gave it to Roughnecks coach David Vaudreuil.
“We need to find 11 people with a big desire,” Sanchez said. “Or 11 people we can combine. Since January 2 we have been training, and today there are persons that don’t realize how big this opportunity is.”
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