Switchbacks FC x Las Vegas Lights
Colorado Springs opened their home campaign at Weidner Field on Saturday afternoon and spent 90 minutes reminding everyone why USL Championship soccer is absolutely unhinged in the best possible way. Three-two over Las Vegas Lights. Two-goal lead blown in four minutes. Dramatic 85th-minute winner off a corner. The kind of match that makes you remember why you fell in love with this sport in the first place.
The Switchbacks controlled most of it, 62.9% possession, 89% passing accuracy, and honestly looked like they were cruising toward a comfortable home opener. Patrick Burner hit the crossbar in the 16th minute, one of those moments where you just know it's gonna be one of those days. Vegas keeper Jared Mazzola was already making saves by the second minute, had four by halftime. The pressure was there. The breakthrough just wasn't.
Then the second half happened and things finally started clicking.
Sixtieth minute, Yosuke Hanya makes this run down the left side, beats Smart Shawn to the end line, cuts it back toward the center. Levonte Johnson slides in front of goal to finish it. One-nil Switchbacks. First goal for Johnson in USL Championship play with Colorado Springs, and you could feel the whole stadium exhale. Finally.
Ten minutes later they doubled it. Sam Williams played a quick one-touch to Jonas Fjeldberg near the top of the box, Fjeldberg settled it and fired a right-footer into the bottom right corner. Two-nil. Seventy minutes in. Home opener going exactly according to plan. Comfortable win incoming. Start building momentum for the season.
Then Abraham Okyere decided to personally ruin everything.
Seventy-fifth minute, Nyk Sessock delivers a set piece from just outside the 18, Okyere jumps above the defense to head it in. Two-one. Okay, fine. Still winning. Still in control. Four minutes later? Okyere fires a long-range effort from the right side of the 18 that finds the bottom-left corner. Two-two. Four minutes. Two goals. Complete collapse. The kind of momentum swing that makes you want to throw things.
Talen Maples had committed a turnover that led to Okyere's second goal, which made what happened next feel like justice or redemption or whatever you want to call it when a defender gets to fix their mistake in real time.
Eighty-fifth minute, Brennan Creek delivers a corner that lands just outside the box to Isaiah Foster, Foster plays it to Sadam Maserka, Maserka lifts it high into the air. Maples sends a header toward goal. The ball deflects into the back of the net — Maples and Vegas midfielder Ben Ofeimu both went up for it, impossible to tell who actually got the final touch, doesn't matter. Three-two Switchbacks. Own goal, late corner, absolute chaos.
"Still frustrated about the goal I gave up," Maples said afterward. "So, of course, happy to be able to make it up and ultimately just get a win for the guys". That's the whole match right there. Mistakes and redemption crammed into 90 minutes at altitude.
This is what USL Championship does. Two teams trading punches, momentum swinging every fifteen minutes, nothing settled until the final whistle. The Switchbacks needed this win after drawing 2-2 at El Paso in their opener. Vegas came in after drawing 1-1 at Orange County. Both teams scrapping for early points, trying to build something before the season gets away from them.
Khori Bennett — who scored 15 goals for Vegas last season before moving to Colorado Springs — didn't find the net this time, but he didn't need to. Johnson got his first. Fjeldberg got his second of the young season. Maples got his redemption arc compressed into five minutes.
Three-two. Home opener secured. The kind of match that reminds you why you can't look away from this league even when the execution gets messy. Because when it's good, it's electric. And when it's bad, it's still electric. Just in a different, more terrifying way.
[Photography by Anthony Martinez]
