2020 Las Vegas Lights FC season

Las Vegas Lights FC
2020 season
General manager	Brett Lashbrook
Head coach	Eric Wynalda (until June 17, 2020) Frank Yallop (June 29-present)
Stadium	Cashman Field
USL	Group B: 5th ; Western Conf.: 15th
USL Cup Playoffs	Did not qualify
U.S. Open Cup	Cancelled
Silver State Cup	Runner-Up
Top goalscorer	League: Yamikani Chester; All: Yamikani Chester
Biggest win	LV 3–1 TAC (August 19); LV 3–1 OC (August 25)
Biggest defeat	PHX 5–1 LV (September 11)
Home colors	Away colors
	← 2019 2021 →

The 2020 Las Vegas Lights FC season was the club's third season, and their third season in the United Soccer League Championship (USLC), the second division of American soccer. This article covers the period from November 18, 2019, the day after the 2019 USLC Playoff Final, to the conclusion of the 2020 USLC Playoff Final, scheduled for November 12–16, 2020.^[1]

Summary

The Las Vegas Lights played their first match of the USL Season against USL expansion side San Diego Loyal, who were making their USL debut. The Las Vegas Lights opened the scoring when Junior Burgos scored a fantastic 40-yard effort in off the crossbar, the USL Goal of the Week and a possible USL Goal of the Year contender. San Diego Loyal soon equalized in the 15th minute when a Charles Adams shot took a deflection of a Las Vegas defender and went in past Delgado.^[2]

After the season was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Lights had poor losing performances in a 2–1 loss to San Diego Loyal and 1–0 loss to in-state rivals Reno 1868 FC. Because of positive COVID-19 cases, matches against San Diego Loyal and Tacoma Defiance were delayed. The club lost 1-0 again to Orange County SC, with both goalies making important saves. Las Vegas finally won their first match of the season against Tacoma Defiance, 3–1. Burgos opened the scoring through a far shot that deflected of Taylor Mueller in the 19th minute. The Lights then doubled their lead after a center by Yamikani Chester was tapped in by Rashawn Dally. Later in the match, Junior Sandoval scored after being assisted by Blake Frischknecht. In the 84th minute, Azriel Gonzalez got a goal back that squeezed through Lights keeper Thomas Olsen.^[3]

The club continued their run of form with a 3–3 draw against first place in Group B Phoenix Rising FC. Phoenix scored early through a shot by Rufat Dadashov, assisted by Solomon Asante. Lights keeper Edward Delgado made several decisive saves against Junior Flemmings, but Flemmings scored in the 68th minute from a lob. The Las Vegas Lights got a goal back from Chester, and soon after Junior Burgos hit the crossbar from a free kick. In the 90th minute Solomon Asante converted a penalty. The Las Vegas Lights then scored in stoppage time as a header by Chester hit of A. J. Cochran for an own goal. The club then equalized after a deflected free kick came to Ramon Martin Del Campo.^[4]

After the Phoenix draw, Vegas went down 1–0 to Orange County after a penalty converted by Aodhan Quinn. Las Vegas soon equalized after Del Campo scored from a corner. Substitute Frischknecht then scored a low shot assisted by Dally, before Junior Sandoval added gloss to the win in stoppage-time, making it 3–1. The Las Vegas Lights then lost a closely contested 4-3 thriller against LA Galaxy II, with lights player Raul Mendiola hitting the post in stoppage time. After a 1–1 draw with San Diego loyal (in which Blake Frischknecht scored his 4th goal or assist in 3 games) the club lost 2–0 to Phoenix Rising at home. In the away match, they lost 5–1, their worst result of their season to date. The Lights then lost a 2-goal lead against LA Galaxy II and ended up losing 3–2, with Augustine Williams netting a late penalty.^[5]

Las Vegas were eliminated from the play-offs after a 1–0 loss to Orange County SC, in which Mobi Fehr and Seth Moses being sent off. After San Diego Loyal beat Phoenix Rising 3–2, the lights could not finish above fifth. Vegas then had a 2–2 draw with La Galaxy II. Sandoval scored after collecting a long ball from Jordan Murrell. LA Galaxy turned the game around with two quick goals in the 71st and 81st minute. In stoppage-time, Dally equalized after some good dribbling by José Carrera García.^[6] Las Vegas then played rivals Reno 1868. The lights took the lead early through Junior Burgos but soon Reno equalized from Foster Langsdorf. The lights scored again from Yamikani Chester but Reno equalized soon after again from Kevin Partida. The score finished 2-2 and Reno won the Silver State Cup. The lights lost the final match of the season 4–2 to Orange County. Fans were permitted for the match, at limited capacity.^[7]

Squad

As of September 28, 2020^[8]

No.	Position	Player	Nation
0	GK	Edward Delgado	United States
1	GK	Thomas Olsen	United States
2	DF	Ramon Martin Del Campo	Mexico
3	DF	Johnny Fenwick	England
4	DF	Gabe Robinson	United States
5	DF	Javan Torre	United States
6	MF	Mobi Fehr	United States
7	MF	Junior Sandoval	Honduras
8	MF	José Carrera	Mexico
9	FW	Blake Frischknecht	United States
10	MF	Junior Burgos	El Salvador
11	FW	Yamikani Chester	Malawi
12	DF	Jordan Murrell	Canada
14	MF	Bryan de la Fuente	United States
15	MF	Grant Robinson	United States
17	DF	Jaiden Waggoner	United States
20	DF	Noah Billingsley (on loan from Minnesota United FC)	New Zealand
22	FW	Seku Conneh	Liberia
23	MF	Alex Culwell	United States
25	FW	Quincy Amarikwa	United States
29	FW	Santiago Echavarría	Colombia
32	MF	Jonathan Levin	Mexico
36	MF	Seth Moses	United States
40	FW	Raúl Mendiola	Mexico
58	GK	Angel Alvarez	United States
66	DF	Chancel Ndaye	Burundi
81	FW	Rashawn Dally (on loan from FC Cincinnati)	Jamaica

Competitions

Exhibitions

February 8 Preseason 1	Real Salt Lake	v	Las Vegas Lights FC	Herriman, Utah
PST
Note: Result not made public.

February 19 Preseason 2	LA Galaxy II	v	Las Vegas Lights FC	Carson, California
PM PST				Stadium: Dignity Health Sports Park

February 28 Preseason 3	Orange County SC	v	Las Vegas Lights FC	Irvine, California
7:00 PM PST				Stadium: Orange County Great Park

USL Championship

Standings — Group B

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	PPG	Qualification
1	Phoenix Rising FC	16	11	2	3	46	17	+29	35	2.19	Advance to USL Championship Playoffs
2	LA Galaxy II	16	8	2	6	29	32	−3	26	1.63	Advance to USL Championship Playoffs
3	Orange County SC	16	7	3	6	18	18	0	24	1.50
4	San Diego Loyal SC	16	6	5	5	17	18	−1	23	1.44
5	Las Vegas Lights FC	16	2	5	9	24	34	−10	11	0.69

Source: USL

Match results

On December 20, 2019, the USL announced the 2020 season schedule, creating the following fixture list for the early part of Las Vegas' season.^[9]

March 7 1	San Diego Loyal SC	1–1	Las Vegas Lights FC	San Diego, California
7:00 PM PST	Adams 15' Stoneman 90+3'	Report	Burgos 4' Sandoval 29' Torre 55'	Stadium: Torero Stadium Attendance: 6,100 Referee: Elton Garcia

In the preparations for the resumption of league play following the shutdown prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the remainder of Las Vegas' schedule was announced on July 2.^[10]

July 25 2	San Diego Loyal SC	2–1	Las Vegas Lights FC	San Diego, California
7:00 PM PST	Moshobane 9' Adams 54' Parra 65' Kempin 81'	Report	Sandoval 17' Dally 45+6' Fenwick 84'	Stadium: Torero Stadium Referee: Joseph Salinas

August 1 3	Las Vegas Lights FC	0–1	Reno 1868 FC	Las Vegas, Nevada
7:30 PM PDT	Mendiola 81'	Report	Richards 18'	Stadium: Cashman Field Referee: Michael Radchuk

August 8 4	Las Vegas Lights FC	P–P	San Diego Loyal SC	Las Vegas, Nevada
TBA PM PDT				Stadium: Cashman Field

August 12 5	Las Vegas Lights FC	P–P	Tacoma Defiance	Las Vegas, Nevada
TBA PM PDT				Stadium: Cashman Field
Note: Match postponed due to positive covid-19 test result with the Las Vegas Lights organization.^[11]

August 15 6	Orange County SC	1–0	Las Vegas Lights FC	Irvine, California
7:00 PM PDT	Quinn 69' Okoli 89'	Report	Moses 9' Waggoner 45' del Campo 74'	Stadium: Championship Soccer Stadium Referee: Michael Radchuk

August 19 5	Las Vegas Lights FC	3–1	Tacoma Defiance	Las Vegas, Nevada
7:30 PM PDT	Burgos 19' Dally 30' Sandoval 67'	Report	Cissoko 68' Gonzalez 84'	Stadium: Cashman Field Referee: Karen Callado
Note: Reschedule of postponed August 12th match.^[12]

August 22 7	Las Vegas Lights FC	3–3	Phoenix Rising FC	Las Vegas, Nevada
8:30 PM PDT	Chester 80' Moses 84' Cochran 90+6' (o.g.) del Campo 90+9'	Report	Dadashov 4' King 22' Kontoh 59' Flemmings 68' Stanton 74' Asante 90' (pen.)	Stadium: Cashman Field Referee: Malik Badawi

August 25 8	Las Vegas Lights FC	3–1	Orange County SC	Las Vegas, Nevada
7:00 PM PDT	del Campo 18' Gr. Robinson 52' Fenwick 62' Burgos 68' Frischknecht 84' Sandoval 90+2'	Report	Quinn 12' (pen.) Alston 60'	Stadium: Cashman Field Referee: Brandon Stevis

August 30 9	LA Galaxy II	4–3	Las Vegas Lights FC	Carson, California
2:00 PM PDT	Cuevas 5' Williams 53' Gutiérrez 62' Hernandez 74'	Report	Chester 14' Gr. Robinson 27' Torre 64' Fenwick 73' Frischknecht 87'	Stadium: Dignity Health Sports Park Referee: Ricardo Fierro

September 2 4	Las Vegas Lights FC	1–1	San Diego Loyal SC	Las Vegas, Nevada
7:30 PM PDT	Billingsley 69' Frischknecht 73' Torre 90+5'	Report	C. Martin 53', 57' Stoneman 72'	Stadium: Cashman Field Referee: Jonathan Bilinski

September 5 10	Las Vegas Lights FC	0–2	Phoenix Rising FC	Las Vegas, Nevada
6:30 PM PDT	Fehr 45+1' Sandoval 50' de la Fuente 52' Amarikwa 90'	Report	King 14' Olsen 53' (o.g.) Cochran 73' Bakero 74' Dadashov 90+4'	Stadium: Cashman Field Referee: William Hoffman

September 11 11	Phoenix Rising FC	5–1	Las Vegas Lights FC	Scottsdale, Arizona
7:30 PM PDT	Dadashov 27', 44' Flemmings 55' Stanton 57' Bakero 72' (pen.) Farrell 90+2'	Report	Moses 41' Fenwick 71' de la Fuente 82'	Stadium: Casino Arizona Field Referee: Isaiah Vlad

September 15 12	LA Galaxy II	3–2	Las Vegas Lights FC	Carson, California
7:00 PM PDT	Williams 37', 84' (pen.) Perez 62' Nava 65'	Report	Moses 22' Chester 28' Delgado 83'	Stadium: Dignity Health Sports Park Referee: Brandon Stevis

September 18 13	Orange County SC	1–0	Las Vegas Lights FC	Irvine, California
7:00 PM PDT	Orozco 43' Jones 63' Okoli 64' Quinn 69' Smith 81'	Report	Fehr 29' Moses 46' 59' Torre 54' Burgos 67'	Stadium: Championship Soccer Stadium Referee: Omeed Azadpour

September 26 14	Las Vegas Lights FC	2–2	LA Galaxy II	Las Vegas, Nevada
7:30 PM PDT	Sandoval 39' Levin 74' Burgos 88' Dally 90+3'	Report	Cuevas 55' Williams 71' Perez 81'	Stadium: Cashman Field Referee: Brad Jensen

September 30 15	Reno 1868 FC	2–2	Las Vegas Lights FC	Reno, Nevada
8:00 PM PDT	Alfaro 8' Langsdorf 12' Hertzog 19' Partida 28' (pen.) Apodaca 81'	Report	Burgos 9' Chester 25' Moses 57' Fehr 70' Robertson 74' Fenwick 90+5'	Stadium: Greater Nevada Field

October 3 16	Las Vegas Lights FC	2–4	Orange County SC	Las Vegas, Nevada
7:30 PM PDT	Mendiola 24', 66' Fehr 30' Sandoval 73' Murrell 90+3'	Report	Hoffman 17', 21', 27' Henry 37' Casiple 68' 76' Quinn 90+2' (pen.)	Stadium: Cashman Field Attendance: 250 Referee: Alejandro Mariscal

U.S. Open Cup

As a USL Championship club, Las Vegas will enter the competition in the Second Round, to be played April 7–9.^[13]

April 9 2nd round	Las Vegas Lights FC	Cancelled	Cal FC or Ventura County Fusion	Las Vegas, Nevada
7:30 PM PDT		Report		Stadium: Cashman Field
Note: Match cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic^[14]

References

^ "USL Championship Unveils 2020 Schedule". January 9, 2020. Retrieved February 1, 2020.
^ "Scores".
^ "Scores".
^ "Scores".
^ "Scores".
^ "Scores".
^ "Scores".
^ "Lights FC 2020 Roster". Las Vegas Lights FC. Archived from the original on September 13, 2020. Retrieved March 7, 2020.
^ "USL Championship Unveils 2020 Schedule". January 9, 2020. Retrieved January 22, 2020.
^ "2020 Schedule Announcement". lasvegaslightsfc.com. July 2, 2020. Retrieved July 10, 2020.
^ "Tacoma Defiance Match on August 12 at Las Vegas Postponed". tacomadefiance.com. August 11, 2020. Retrieved August 15, 2020.
^ "Tacoma Defiance Match on August 12 at Las Vegas Postponed". tacomadefiance.com. August 11, 2020. Retrieved August 15, 2020.
^ "Restructured Competition Format For 2020 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Provides Opportunity For More "David vs. Goliath" Matchups In 107th Edition Of U.S. Soccer's National Championship". U.S. Soccer Federation. Retrieved December 18, 2019.
^ "2020 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup cancelled due to COVID-19". ussoccer.com. August 17, 2020. Retrieved October 4, 2020.

[1] "USL Championship Unveils 2020 Schedule". January 9, 2020. Retrieved February 1, 2020.

[2] "Scores".

[3] "Scores".

[4] "Scores".

[5] "Scores".

[6] "Scores".

[7] "Scores".

[8] "Lights FC 2020 Roster". Las Vegas Lights FC. Archived from the original on September 13, 2020. Retrieved March 7, 2020.

[9] "USL Championship Unveils 2020 Schedule". January 9, 2020. Retrieved January 22, 2020.

[10] "2020 Schedule Announcement". lasvegaslightsfc.com. July 2, 2020. Retrieved July 10, 2020.

[11] "Tacoma Defiance Match on August 12 at Las Vegas Postponed". tacomadefiance.com. August 11, 2020. Retrieved August 15, 2020.

[12] "Tacoma Defiance Match on August 12 at Las Vegas Postponed". tacomadefiance.com. August 11, 2020. Retrieved August 15, 2020.

[13] "Restructured Competition Format For 2020 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Provides Opportunity For More "David vs. Goliath" Matchups In 107th Edition Of U.S. Soccer's National Championship". U.S. Soccer Federation. Retrieved December 18, 2019.

[14] "2020 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup cancelled due to COVID-19". ussoccer.com. August 17, 2020. Retrieved October 4, 2020.

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v t e Las Vegas Lights FC
Las Vegas, Nevada
Club	History Players Cashman Field
Key personnel	Owner; CEO & Governor: José Bautista Director of Soccer Operations: Stephen Campos Head Coach: Dennis Sanchez
Seasons	2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
Supporters groups	The Electric Company Luz y Fuerza LV
Category

v t e USL Championship
Eastern Conference	Birmingham Legion FC Charleston Battery Detroit City FC Hartford Athletic Indy Eleven Loudoun United FC Louisville City FC Miami FC North Carolina FC Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC Rhode Island FC Tampa Bay Rowdies
Western Conference	Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC El Paso Locomotive FC Las Vegas Lights FC Monterey Bay FC New Mexico United Oakland Roots SC Orange County SC Phoenix Rising FC Sacramento Republic FC San Antonio FC FC Tulsa
Future teams	Brooklyn FC (2025) Sporting Club Jacksonville (2025) Lexington SC (2025) Buffalo Pro Soccer (2026) Milwaukee Pro Soccer (2026) Ozark United FC (2026) Santa Barbara Sky FC (2026) USL Dallas (2027) USL Pro Iowa (TBD) USL New Orleans (TBD) USL Palm Beach (TBD) OKC Energy FC (on hiatus)
Former teams	Antigua Barracuda FC Atlanta United 2 Austin Aztex Charlotte Eagles Charlotte Independence FC Cincinnati Dayton Dutch Lions Fresno FC LA Galaxy II Memphis 901 FC FC Montreal Nashville SC F.C. New York New York Red Bulls II Orlando City B Orlando City SC Ottawa Fury FC Penn FC Philadelphia Union II Phoenix FC Portland Timbers 2 Puerto Rico United Real Monarchs Reno 1868 FC Richmond Kickers Rio Grande Valley FC Toros River Plate Puerto Rico Rochester Rhinos Saint Louis FC San Diego Loyal SC Sevilla FC Puerto Rico Sporting Kansas City II Tacoma Defiance Toronto FC II VSI Tampa Bay FC Whitecaps FC 2 Wilmington Hammerheads FC
Seasons	2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
Miscellaneous	Foreign players USL Championship Final United Soccer League USL League One USL League Two

v t e 2020 USL Championship season
Playoffs
Eastern	Atlanta United 2 Birmingham Legion Charleston Battery Charlotte Independence Hartford Athletic Indy Eleven Loudoun United Louisville City Memphis 901 Miami FC New York Red Bulls II North Carolina FC Philadelphia Union II Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC Saint Louis FC Sporting Kansas City II Tampa Bay Rowdies
Western	Austin Bold Colorado Springs Switchbacks El Paso Locomotive LA Galaxy II Las Vegas Lights New Mexico United OKC Energy Orange County SC Phoenix Rising Portland Timbers 2 Real Monarchs SLC Reno 1868 FC RGVFC Toros Sacramento Republic San Antonio FC San Diego Loyal SC Tacoma Defiance FC Tulsa