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.

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 Efraín Antonio Burgos Jr. (born 14 August 1988), better known as Junior Burgos, is a Salvadoran professional footballer who plays for the El Salvador national team. Career College and Amateur Burgos grew up in San Bruno, California, attende ...

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. 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 Taylor Thomas Mueller (born September 20, 1988 in Kirkland, Washington) is a retired American soccer player. Career Mueller played college soccer at the University of Washington between 2007 and 2010, where he made 72 appearances and scored 2 g ...

in the 19th minute. The Lights then doubled their lead after a center by Yamikani Chester was tapped in by

Rashawn Dally Rashawn Dally (born 14 January 1997) is a Jamaican professional footballer who plays as a winger for Hartford Athletic in the USL Championship. Career Early career Dally played varsity soccer at Watkinson School followed by four years of colleg ...

. Later in the match, Junior Sandoval scored after being assisted by

Blake Frischknecht Blake Frischknecht (born May 10, 1995) is an American professional soccer player who currently plays for Chattanooga Red Wolves SC in USL League One. Career College & Amateur Frischknecht began playing college soccer at Brigham Young Uni ...

. In the 84th minute,

Azriel Gonzalez Azriel, Asriel or Ezriel may refer to: People * Azriel of Gerona (c. 1160–c. 1238), Catalan kabbalist * Azriel Hildesheimer (1820–1899), German rabbi * Azriel Rabinowitz (1905–1941), Lithuanian rabbi and Holocaust victim * Azriel Rosenfeld ...

got a goal back that squeezed through Lights keeper Thomas Olsen. 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 Rufat Oleg oglu Dadashov ( az, Rüfət Oleq oğlu Dadaşov; born 29 September 1991) is an Azerbaijani footballer who plays as a striker for German club Schalke 04 II and the Azerbaijan national team. He will join BFC Dynamo on 1 July 2023. Ca ...

, assisted by Solomon Asante. Lights keeper

Edward Delgado Edward "Lalo" Delgado (born January 23, 1998) is an American soccer player who currently plays as a goalkeeper for Northern Colorado Hailstorm in the USL League One. Career Youth and college Delgado played four years of college soccer at ...

made several decisive saves against

Junior Flemmings Junior Flemmings (born 16 January 1996) is a Jamaican professional Association football, footballer who plays as a winger (association football), winger and Forward (association football), forward for club Toulouse FC, Toulouse and the Jamaica ...

, 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 Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

as a header by Chester hit of

A. J. Cochran Alec John "A. J." Cochran (born February 9, 1993) is an American professional soccer defender. Early life and education Cochran was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri. His parents are Anne and John Cochran and he has one sister. He att ...

for an own goal. The club then equalized after a deflected free kick came to Ramon Martin Del Campo. 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 Raul, Raúl and Raül are the Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, Galician, Asturian, Basque, Aragonese, and Catalan forms of the Anglo-Germanic given name Ralph or Rudolph. They are cognates of the French Raoul. Raul, Raúl or Raül may r ...

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. Las Vegas were eliminated from the play-offs after a 1–0 loss to Orange County SC, in which

Mobi Fehr Mobi Fehr (born December 13, 1994 in New York City) is an American soccer player currently playing for USL Championship side Monterey Bay. Playing career Growing up in Japan, Fehr played in the Tokyo Verdy academy. Fehr was on the roster of Ma ...

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 Jordan Peter Murrell (born May 2, 1993) is a Canadian professional soccer player. Club career Early career Murrell began playing soccer at age four with Pinnstars FC in London. Murrell spent 2009–2011 with Toronto FC's academy in the Canad ...

. 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 José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced differently in each language: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ). In French, the name ''José'', pronounced , is an old vernacu ...

. 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.

Squad

Competitions

Exhibitions

USL Championship

Standings — Group B

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. 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.

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.

References

{{2020 in American soccer Las Vegas Lights FC Las Vegas Lights FC Las Vegas Lights FC seasons Las Vegas Lights FC