COMMERCE CITY, Colo. – There’s a first time for everything and Saturday night’s 1-0 win over the Vancouver Whitecaps was full of them for the Colorado Rapids.
The first goal for Lucas Pittinari, the first start for Argentinian striker Luis Solignac, the first game in a Rapids uniform for Designated Player Kevin Doyle and Colorado’s first home win since July 2014.
“It feels great. Like I said from the beginning, you need the results to validate all that hard work you put in from Monday through Friday,” Rapids head coach Pablo Mastroeni said postgame. “These guys have not made any excuses. They come in and give everything they have.”
The game was also the first match Colorado played in over two weeks. Inclement weather postponed the team’s match with Sporting Kansas City last week, and for a 20-minute stretch in between halves against Vancouver, rain posed more issues.
But the Rapids were able to come out of the extended break with a renewed resolve.
“We had the comfort of home here,” Mastroeni said of the halftime weather delay. “Guys kept it really low key and didn’t expend a lot of energy. The key was keeping the guys loose and keeping the minds right.”
Out of the break, the Rapids broke through with Pittinari’s first goal in Major League Soccer, giving Colorado a lead that they wouldn’t relinquish.
“Yes. It was important, but for another reason: it was at home,” Pittinari told reporters in Spanish postgame.
Weather was a factor for all 22 players on the field, but altitude was also an underlying factor for Solignac and Doyle, who both appeared in their first match for the Rapids at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park.
“Actually I didn’t think about [altitude] during the game. Otherwise you’ll get tired for sure,” said Solignac, who got the start at center forward. “I felt great. We really deserved the three points and I’m happy.”
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Doyle shared the sentiment, but was both happy and relieved to get playing time under his belt following a week of acclimating to the altitude and dealing with jet lag after a long flight from Ireland.
“It’s been a long week, a lot of new things to take in,” he said. “It was nice to win. I needed that. I needed to get involved and get that chesty feeling out.”
“I thought they brought a different dynamic to the group that we didn’t have,” Mastroeni said of Colorado’s newest attacking additions. “They’re great teammates, but they fight as well and are willing to get stuck in deep. It’s a long season, it’s a tough league and to have these two guys join us is going to be a big lift.”
Marco Cummings covers the Colorado Rapids for MLSsoccer.com.
