The Big Picture
Colorado Rapids 2 (7-0-1, 22 pts) remain undefeated after handing Austin FC II (5-1-3, 19 pts) its first loss of the season. Rapids 2 continues to occupy a first place standing in the Western Conference and league overall after defeating the second-place team in Western Conference in tonight's game. Midfielder Marlon Vargas was the lone goal scorer of the evening, earning his second goal of the season. Academy goalkeeper Adam Beaudry recorded his second clean sheet of the season, giving the team back-to-back clean sheets for the first time in their two years in MLS NEXT Pro.
Notable:
- Rapids 2 secured its seventh win of the season in tonight's match versus Austin FC II. The team currently occupies a first place standing in both the Western Conference and the league overall after defeating the second place Western Conference team in tonight's game.
- Goalkeeper Adam Beaudry earned tonight's Man of the Match award for earning the team its third clean sheet of the season. His clean sheet in tonight's match marks the first-ever time that Rapids 2 has secured back-to-back clean sheets.
- Midfielder Marlon Vargas scored the game winning goal for the night, bagging his second goal of the season in the match against Austin FC II.
Postgame Media Availability:
Select postgame quotes transcribed below.
COLORADO RAPIDS 2 HEAD COACH ERIK BUSHEY
On the match:
“A nice three points. A hard earned three points for sure. I think Austin, it's no surprise they have achieved the success they have thus far in the season. A very tough team, put us under a lot of pressure, which is a great thing because every time we get put under such pressure, we have to answer questions, we have to respond. Not just to fast forward past the majority of the game, but the last quarter of the match when we are defending our box, which we talk about so often, the ability to protect our goal, to be strong in front of our goal and in both boxes really. We were able to do that and for that I am well pleased. A very hard fought victory."
On being at the top of the Western Conference table:
“I am happy to hear you say that really. It has a good ring to it. As I have said, now we are maybe eight games in and there is a long, long way to go. We are still at a point where we are going to say it's a good start. There are a lot of reasons. I have been asked the question now on multiple occasions. There is a core group that is returning and having learned some very hard lessons over the course of last year. There are some new personalities that have come in and have really been fantastic on and off the field. Very positive and a much more organized preseason period that we weren't quite ready for last year. Then we were able to get off on the front foot in terms of some success. We were able to build confidence and confidence repeated builds belief and I keep saying that, but with belief you can do a lot of good things. Those are some of the reasons."
On the success in the second half of tonight's match:
"A big piece was about communication. We are trying to find more ways to apply more pressure. We altered our shape tonight, so sometimes we are coming from a slightly different position or a slightly different angle or the relationships between players was a bit different tonight. We had to sort some of that out. We just wanted guys to be able to communicate with one another to direct. How can they share responsibility because if you want to work over the course of 90 plus minutes, especially against a very good side, then you have to be efficient. We are working hard and right now I can say we are consistently hard workers. Today we could have been more efficient because it is hard work to apply pressure over the course of 90 plus minutes. So, that was a big piece. I think the guys did well. It was difficult for us to get higher up later on, but that is also the context of the game. We are up one-nil, we are working hard, the opponent is driven to get the equalizer, so sometimes the game tells you what is needed. At that point, we had to defend and defend very hard."
COLORADO RAPIDS 2 MIDFIELDER MARLON VARGAS
On the match:
“Going into the week for the game against Austin, we did a lot of scouting reports on them. We all know they are a really good team, and they are second in the league in our conference for a reason. We knew it wasn't going to be easy. Erik (Bushey) said it in the locker room, it is not the way we wanted to play, it wasn't pretty, but we got the result, and we got the three points and we just move on for the next game coming up."
On scoring tonight's game-winning goal:
“Obviously, it felt great. Just because the first half we were kind of struggling a little bit. It wasn't going our way and we were kind of defending a majority, I would say for the entire first half. Once the ball came to me and I took my touch, I am like I'm going to shoot it. When it went in I was just, not relieved, but I was like, okay this is the start for our momentum going forward. Once we got the goal, I feel like we kind of kept the ball a little bit more. We were still defending in our own half. I am going to say it again, like Erik said, it wasn't pretty, but we got the three points and that is the most important."
On the second half performance:
"Before going out for the game, Oli (Oliver Larraz) talked about mentality. Obviously, we didn't have a great start to the first half, so we knew that we had to come out with a good mentality in the second half. I thought the first 15 minutes of the half, we put quite a lot of pressure on them, and we resulted in half good decent chances and the goal came and we scored."
On staying grounded through the remainder of the season:
"We can't get complacent. We have a bye week coming up and we just have to go into this week like if we are going to play a game already. Myself included and the guys, we can't get too cocky just because we are at the top of the table within our bye week. We still have plenty more games to come and there are still plenty of great teams out there. We just need to get our head down, get into the training ground and keep improving and moving forward."
