Phoenix Rising broke a six-match winless run with a 2-0 victory away to North Carolina, helping Rising take one step closer to clinching a playoff spot.

Charlie Dennis scored in the first half before Collin Smith added another in the second half, while North Carolina did little to threaten Patrick Rakovsky in the Phoenix net.

Defensive dominance

Since Peter Wilson scored in the 22nd minute of Phoenix Rising’s 3-3 draw vs. Oakland, Rising hasn’t conceded an open-play goal in over 270 minutes, including stoppage time.

A large part of this recent run has been Pape Mar Boye’s return to his all-league second team form from last year. Boye was subbed on at halftime of that Oakland game, and since then Rising’s defense has looked improved over what has been displayed all season.

In Friday’s game, North Carolina only tallied six shots, four of which came in the last fifteen minutes. Rising’s shift to a back three, with Ascel Essengue and Rafael Czichos playing alongside Boye, tightly marked North Carolina’s front three and didn’t allow any clear-cut chances.

North Carolina was only able to create two chances on the night, with only one coming after they went behind in the first half, off a 77th minute Michael Maldonado corner kick.

Another factor to Rising’s defensive stronghold was newcomer Jean-Eric Moursou continuing to make his impact felt. Combining with JP Scearce in the midfield double pivot, the duo were able to limit North Carolina in transition, as they continued to man-mark opposing players.

While Rising’s defense performed excellently against North Carolina’s attack, the hosts simply didn’t have enough energy nor quality to break down Phoenix. North Carolina was often slow and lethargic in build-up making it very easy for Rising to recover.

Attacking adjustments

The front three of Darius Johnson, Hope Avayevu and Charlie Dennis was an unfamiliar look to what we’ve seen this season, as Pa-Modou Kah’s side would be starting without either of their two main strikers: Remi Cabral or Ihsan Sacko.

While that choice could be cause for some concern, that was put to bed with Phoenix Rising’s hot start to the match. Although it didn’t lead to an onslaught of chances, Rising were in North Carolina’s final third early and often.

Charlie Dennis’ goal in the 35th minute rewarded Rising for their control and also showed the quality we’ve seen so often from Dennis. It won’t be a Puskas award winner, but Dennis finds the space and the ball after a save from goalkeeper Oliver Semmle and slots it home well.

From there, Rising only had five shots the rest of the way, with only two in the second half. The attack had lost its ferocity, but it wasn’t needed with how poor North Carolina’s attacking play was.

The match was capped off in the second half as Darius Johnson dribbled past a defender and found Collin Smith on the back post for the game-sealing goal.

Against New Mexico, Rising’s defensive performance was held back by an ineffective attack. On Friday, the opposite was the case and could prove the formula going forward; not just in the regular season, but also in a potential playoff run.

What it means for Phoenix RIsing’s playoff hopes

While the full extent of Phoenix Rising’s win on the standings won’t be felt until the conclusion of this weekend, it’s not hard to imagine what it could mean.

Rising jumps up to sixth, but in a Western Conference where it seems like nobody wants to win, they could very easily stay there to the end of the season.

Ahead of Saturday’s fixtures, Lexington and Colorado Springs sit within two points of Rising, in seventh and eighth place respectively. Lexington has a home duel against a stagnating El Paso side, who’ve only won once in their last seven games, while Colorado Springs has a difficult away test against Charleston, one of the best teams in the USL Championship.

Orange County is currently behind Rising by five points, sits below the playoff line in ninth place, and is led by former Rising head coach Danny Stone. OC has an away game against New Mexico, but also has a game in hand after this weekend, while holding the head-to-head tiebreaker over Phoenix.

While the teams behind Rising have relatively difficult matches, it’s important for Rising to continue to pick up wins in remaining fixtures to hold onto control of their playoff destiny.

Rees’ take

Any time that you win on the road in the USL Championship, it’s huge.

Make it an Eastern Conference opponent, and it’s even bigger.

Factor in where Rising sat in the standings ahead of this match, and this win is one of the biggest of the season.

This team has struggled to find wins over recent months, so much so that this is only Phoenix’s third league win since June 14th.

Finding wins in this year’s team has been hard to come by, but picking up this win is much more than points picked up for the playoffs. This team has seemingly found their best way to compete over recent matches, by committing to defending with moments of quality in the final third.

It’s a formula that could very well work in the playoffs should they suck in other team’s attacks, before going forward a handful of times and scraping by with a victory.

It’s also a formula that could very well not be seen in the playoffs, if Rising can’t continue to take care of business and the right teams pick up results elsewhere. That’s just the chaos of this year’s USL Championship.

All in all, Rising can still go on to host a playoff game or miss out all together, and there’s no way to know until the season ends October 25th.

Top image: North Carolina FC