Paxten Aaronson helps depleted Rapids to rare road result in Austin

Photo credit: Pat Radigan / Footy at 5280

Aaronson’s 11th goal contribution of the season breaks Colorado’s road losing streak as team awaits attacking reinforcements.

Paxten Aaronson scored his fifth goal of the season, the first goal away from home for the Colorado Rapids since May 12, and Facundo Torres tallied a late equalizer as the Rapids earned a 1-1 draw against Austin FC in Texas Wednesday night.

The road has not been kind to the Rapids this season. The club had not scored a goal away from Commerce City since May 12 against Real Salt Lake, and had been outscored by a margin of 7-0 since returning from the World Cup break. The club was coming off consecutive 0-3 road losses, and the three new attacking signings were still awaiting visas to join the squad, leaving the team sheet as thin as it has ever been under head coach Matt Wells.

The first-year head coach knew he needed a spark, and with options few and far between, the Englishman turned to Paxten Araronson.

“Yeah, I had a really good meeting with Pax this week individually, as I did with quite a few of the players off the back of Columbus,” Wells said. “Without sharing all the details, I guess my overriding message to Paxten from Columbus was, I want more. I want more from you, and I wouldn’t ask that of you if you weren’t capable of it.”

Aaronson heard that message loud and clear, volleying home a weak clearance from outside the box in the 22nd minute past a diving Brad Stuver to give Colorado one of the rarest feelings of its season so far: a lead away from home. “I knew that I needed to step up in a big way,” Aaronson said after the match. The goal was his fifth of the year to go along with six assists. Among players who are still on the team, he leads in both categories after the departure of Rafael Navarro.

The young midfielder reflected this week after a tough outing in Columbus, meeting with Wells midweek to get things back on track. “I sat down and had a conversation with coach. We acknowledged that against Columbus, it wasn’t good enough from me personally, but as well with the whole team.”

It wasn’t just the offense that got its groove back in the first half for Colorado. Nico Hansen returned from a two-game absence, and Rob Holding donned the captain’s armband as the Rapids’ defense started out strong. Austin had zero shots on target (a Jon Gallagher goal was called back for a foul in the buildup by Brendan Vasquez) and just 0.4 expected goals in the opening 45 minutes.

But the shutout proved too tall of a task for the defense, as Facundo Torres found himself alone in the box for a looping header to equalize for Austin in the 78th minute on a great ball in from Žan Kolmaníč. In a much improved game from recent road form, it still was tough to see the win slip away late for Wells and company.

“When you become short on bodies, it’s so tough because you end up putting (a) load on players that, if you had other options available, you necessarily wouldn’t do,” Wells said. “So I think tonight, it’s no coincidence. You see Youssef (Maziz) struggling a little bit, Loïc (Williams) struggling a little bit, Wayne (Frederick) struggling a little bit. So (it’ll) be massive for us to have the quality of Morgan (Whittaker) and of Sayed (Abu Farkhi), but also it’s going to be massive just from a numerical perspective. We’ve got other bodies where we can share the physical load with the run of games coming up.”

On the injury front, Maziz, one of the few proven offensive players available on the roster, was subbed off in the 21st minute. With a game this weekend against visiting CF Montréal and a U.S. Open Cup semifinal against St. Louis CITY at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park on Wednesday, the timing of the injury could not be worse for a team that needs all the help up top they can find.

Notes: 

• Donovan Phillip, the team’s third-round pick in the 2025 draft, made his first MLS start.

• Reggie Cannon was assessed a yellow in the 62nd minute, triggering an accumulation suspension, and will miss Saturday’s game against Montréal.