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Week 16 Preview: Two Streaks on the Line

By Tyler Vaughn, 06/21/19, 9:00AM CDT

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USL Championship  Match 17
Energy FC v Phoenix Rising FC
Saturday, June 22 – 8:00 p.m. CDT
Taft Stadium – Oklahoma City

Where to Watch:

Live and in person (the best way)
ESPN+
@EnergyFC on Twitter

Week 15 Recap

Energy FC (7th, 5-4-7, 22 points) are back home again after a couple of frustrating fixtures in Week 15. After getting knocked out of the U.S. Open Cup by FC Dallas, San Antonio FC were able to salvage a point last Saturday, as Jack Barmby scored in second-half stoppage time to cancel out Rafael Garcia’s 55th minute goal from the penalty spot. The draw was the team’s fourth in a row and extended the unbeaten run to six league matches.

Week 16 Preview

The Greens will have to be at their best to extend that unbeaten run to seven, as red-hot Phoenix Rising FC (1st, 8-2-5, 29 points) come to town on the back of six straight wins. During that stretch, they’ve scored 23 goals, kept four clean sheets and only conceded three times.

Phoenix is most recently coming of a 3-0 win at Reno 1868 FC Tuesday night. Adam Jahn, Solomon Asante and Joey Calistri all got on the scoresheet, while Zac Lubin recorded his eighth clean sheet. Jahn leads the team with nine goals and Asante is right behind him with eight goals and eight assists. Those numbers are good enough for third and sixth in the league in scoring, while Asante’s eight assists is the highest in the USL Championship. Rising FC’s 37 goals on the season is the best in the league.

Something to note for Energy FC is the recent, improved performances at the back. In the last ten matches, the Greens have only conceded eight times and have kept three clean sheets. That’s quite the turnaround from the first six matches when OKC gave up 14 goals and kept zero clean sheets.

Another noteworthy point: this will be the first time the Greens haven't had a midweek match in a month. The rest and full week at home will hopefully do the squad wonders.

All-time, the two teams have met 11 times with OKC winning four, PHX winning five and the sides drawing twice. Phoenix did the double over OKC in 2019, winning 4-1 at Casino Arizona Field and 3-0 at Taft Stadium. This will be the second time OKC has played PHX, after a preseason exhibition in Tucson, Ariz. ended with a 2-0 Energy FC win. Deshorn Brown and Omar Gordon were the goalscorers on that day. Brown and Gordon still lead OKC with eight goals and six assists, respectively.

Saturday will mark a special occasion, as Kyle Hyland is set to make his 100th appearance for the club. In doing so, Hyland will be the first player to reach this milestone for Energy FC.

Saturday’s match, which will also be Military Appreciation Night at Taft Stadium, kicks off at 8:00 p.m. Tickets are available at energyfc.com/june or by calling 235-KICK.