Second-half woes for United in 2-1 loss to Lexington SC

Any way you look at it, New Mexico United was on the receiving end Saturday night in Kentucky.

Host Lexington SC hit United with two second-half goals and held on for a 2-1 victory — Lexington's first win since its season-opener on March 8.

NMU also took a hit in the standings as several other USL Championship Western Conference contenders enjoyed better results. Phoenix Rising FC pulled even with New Mexico atop the table after a 3-1 win over Orange County. Both teams have 22 points, followed closely by El Paso (21), Tulsa (20) and San Antonio (20).

Worse yet, United lost captain Kalen Ryden to an injury early in the second half. The veteran defender's head hit the ground hard twice after a pair of rough collisions. Ryden was helped off the field after the second and moved gingerly to the sideline in the 60th minute.

New Mexico coach Dennis Sanchez said Ryden was undergoing x-rays for a possible collar bone injury after the game.

All in all, it was a rough night for United, which was outshot 16-12 and managed just one shot on goal in the second half. Luiz Fernando scored to give the visitors a 1-0 lead at halftime, but Lexington had the better of things after intermission.

"It was a game of momentum," Sanchez said. "The first half, for the most part, was really good stuff, although I thought we lacked some quality in the final third. But Kalen coming out caused some disruption, and when (Lexington) scored their first goal, the momentum really changed."

New Mexico (7-4-1) held 69% of the possession but struggled to create quality scoring chances for much of the night. The most notable exception came in first-half stoppage time, when Fernando intercepted a pass on the defensive end and pushed the ball quickly up field.

Mukwelle Akale chipped a pass to Marlon Vargas, who then feathered a lead pass back to Akale on the right wing. He centered the ball to Fernando for an easy tap-in to give the visitors a 1-0 lead.

It stayed that way until the 66th minute, shortly after Ryden was helped off the field. Sofiane Djeffal headed a cross from Joe Hafferty into the goal to even the score at 1-1. It was one of numerous crosses in front of NMU's goal on an assortment of Lexington set pieces and transition opportunities.

The decisive goal came in the 73rd minute when Xavier Zengue collected deflected cross in the box, turned and fired the ball past United goalkeeper Alex Tambakis. At that point, Lexington was outshooting New Mexico 14-6 and clearly had the visitors on their heels.

"I haven't seen the goals played back yet, so I'm not exactly sure what happened," Sanchez said. "But we went from having the action in our favor to playing long stretches in our defensive third."

New Mexico turned up the pressure in the late going, frequently working the ball into dangerous positions in and around Lexington's penalty area. It resulted in few shots, however, as a low Akale blast just wide of the left post in the 76th minute may have been United's best chance at an equalizer.

Tambakis came up with a pair of big saves late to keep the margin at 2-1, and he effectively cut off several dangerous transition runs by Lexington (2-6-5). But NMU's attack simply couldn't find any answers.

"We have to learn something from this one," Sanchez said. "We had some opportunities but that final pass and final action just wasn't there tonight. We'll come home, take a close look at this and it'll be interesting to see how we respond."

Next up: San Antonio FC at New Mexico United, Saturday, June 21 at 7 p.m., Radio: 101.7 FM; TV: KASY (English), Estrella (Spanish); Streaming: KRQE.com, ESPN+