Memphis 901 FC vs. Colorado Springs Switchbacks preview

Heading into Wednesday night’s Southern Harm showdown against the Birmingham Legion in the US Open Cup, Memphis 901 FC had been riding a seven match unbeaten streak. The bulk of those games (five of the seven) had come in USL play while the other two had been Open Cup games. While the Open Cup run may be over and the seven matches unbeaten streak across all competitions may have ended, 901 FC still has a streak going in USL play. And with the Colorado Springs Switchbacks coming to town on Saturday night, the Beale Street Boys will look to run their USL unbeaten streak to six straight games.

Memphis 901 FC’s poor start to the 2023 USL campaign has been well documented. Two straight losses at home by identical 3-1 scorelines to start the season caused alarm bells to start ringing. But the addition of Bill Hamid seems to have steadied the ship somewhat as until Wednesday night Memphis had neither lost a game nor conceded three goals (both streaks came to a dispiriting end in Birmingham). But the fact remains that in league play, 901 FC is still unbeaten with Hamid between the sticks. Their last five games have seen them post two wins as well as three draws. Those draws were 1-1 at Miami FC, a weather delayed 2-2 at home against the Las Vegas Lights, and 1-1 at home in a rivalry game with perennial contender Louisville City. The two wins were a pair of shutout road wins: 3-0 against the Rio Grande Valley Toros and then most recently a continued run of dominance over Hartford Athletic by a score of 2-0. The decent run of form has allowed Memphis to pull themselves out of the basement and up to just inside the playoff places at 8th in the Eastern Conference.

Colorado Springs meanwhile, has quietly turned themselves into one of the better teams in the USL Championship. Beginning play in 2015 they made the playoffs each of their first two seasons before enduring a four year playoff drought. That drought ended in 2021 as they made the Western Conference Quarterfinals before doing even better in 2022 with a Western Conference Finals appearance. Their attendance gets better every year too, topping out at an average of 7,199 last season. So far this year they suffered a Cupset in the Second Round of the US Open Cup (against the Northern Colorado Hailstorm from USL League One) but have been very consistent in league play where they’ve posted a 5-3-1 record and sit 4th in the Western Conference. They also feature a name familiar to Memphis 901 FC fans with defender Patrick Seagrist who played here last year and appeared in 33 games for the Beale Street Boys.

When, Where

Date: Saturday, May 13, 2023

Venue: AutoZone Park

City: Memphis, Tennessee

Time: 7pm CT

TV: WMC 5.2, ESPN+

All-Time Series

Memphis 901 FC leads 1-0-1

Last Meeting

Date: Saturday, April 16, 2022

Venue: Weidner Field

City: Colorado Springs, Colorado

Result: Memphis 901 FC 2-1 Colorado Springs Switchbacks

Conference Standing

Memphis 901 FC: 8th in East (9pts)

Colorado Springs Switchbacks: 4th in West (16pts)

Next Game

Date: Friday, May 19, 2023

Competition: USL Regular Season

Match-Up: Memphis 901 FC @ FC Tulsa

Venue: ONEOK Field

City: Tulsa, Oklahoma

Time: 7pm CT

TV: WMC 5.2, ESPN+