Spokane, WA — In the first ever matchup between the two sides, Spokane Velocity FC shut out Sarasota Paradise 1-0 on Sunday to stay undefeated at ONE Spokane Stadium in 2026. With the win, Spokane is now 6-0-0 at home in the regular-season.
Velocity FC head coach Leigh Veidman spoke on the importance of performing well at home.
“It’s everything, if you want to finish as close to the top of the table as possible, you’ve got to use home advantage,” said Veidman. “It’s about us and the fans working together to help get these results together, and they’ve come up huge at home.”
Velocity FC had a scoring chance early, with forward Medgy Alexandre finding himself open inside the box in the 9th minute, firing a shot towards goal that was punched out by Sarasota goalkeeper Alex Sutton.
Spokane defender Gagi Margvelashvili came up big in the 20th minute, deflecting a potential shot inside the penalty area by Paradise by forward Garrett McLaughlin. Margvelashvili had a productive first half, notching three clearances and one interception for Velocity FC.
Sarasota had its best chance in the 26th minute when McLaughlin led a fastbreak opportunity off an interception, crossing it to forward Jonathan Balano’s, who lost his defender and fired a shot towards goal that was saved by Spokane goalkeeper Sean Lewis, who notched his first clean sheet of the regular-season on Sunday.
Spokane midfielder Collin Fernandez spoke on what worked well on defense to shut out Paradise, who is in the top third of League One in shot attempts this season.
“We just tried to sit in our midblock and make it difficult to break us down and I think we did a pretty good job of that today,” said Fernandez.
Velocity FC had three shot attempts in the first half, getting one on target. Spokane midfielder Nil Vinyals had a header attempt sail wide right in the 34th minute, with neither side getting a clear scoring attempt afterwards, leaving the match scoreless going into halftime.
The second half was filled with scoring opportunities by Spokane. In the 67th minute, Velocity FC midfielder Joe Gallardo got inside the box and had a potential shot deflected by Sarasota’s backline. A rebounded shot by Neco Brett in front of the net sailed wide left.
Spokane defender Derek Waldeck made the biggest play of the game for Velocity FC, scoring a goal in the 72nd minute to give his side a 1-0 lead that they would not relinquish. The goal was Waldeck’s first of the season.
Waldeck spoke on what he did to get his go-ahead goal against Sarasota.
“I got my first touch out of my feet and tried to get it on frame. It wasn’t the cleanest of finishes but I was able to catch the keeper wrong-footed and slid it past him,” said Waldeck. “We’ll take it and we’re really happy with the result.”
With Sunday’s victory, Velocity FC has now won four of its last five regular-season matches and sits in second place in League One standings with 20 points.
Looking forward, coach Veidman spoke on what will be required of his team when they take on Portland Hearts of Pine on the road next Saturday.
“We need another big defensive performance, Portland at home are really good,” said Veidman. “They’re well-coached, so we’ve got to be ready for a tough defensive performance and a lot of travel. We rest up now and then get prepared for it.”
Following Sunday’s win, the team will hit the road for a match against Portland Hearts of Pine Sarasota Paradise on May 30 at Fitzpatrick Stadium in Portland, Maine. The game is set to kickoff at 3:30 PM PT and can be streamed on ESPN+. For tickets to Velocity FC’s next home match on June 6th against AC Boise, please visit Velocity FC Tickets – USL Spokane.
