After a quarterfinal win last weekend, Phoenix Rising FC is looking to secure its spot in the USL conference finals with a win over Reno 1868 FC this Saturday. 

Phoenix and Reno met earlier this season on Aug. 29, which resulted in a 2-1 victory for Reno. Now, the clubs have its playoff lives on the line.

Reno is the host team. The match is set for 6:00 p.m. at Greater Nevada Field. 

“It’ll be a good game,” Phoenix interim manager Blair Gavin said. “They’re (Reno) a very good team. The way they play is challenging. They’ll go man-to-man all over the field and put pressure on you. They’re really good in transitional moments.”

In the club’s last game against Reno, both forward Junior Flemmings and head coach Rick Schantz were with the team. Now, Gavin and his staff will have to adjust its game plan.

“Starting fast and trying to put the game on our terms,” Gavin said. “Rufat (Dadashov) is a big component for us, our wingers and midfielders, and how we create separation from their man-to-man organization.”

A big factor for Saturday’s game is the availability of defender Damion Lowe, who signed with the team late in the season. Lowe contributed to one of the club’s only clean sheets of the regular season.

“Damion’s still in that recovering process,” Gavin said. “He’s getting fitter & stronger each day, gaining confidence of his teammates and confidence of the staff. So that’s something we monitor closely and we’ll evaluate as we get closer to the game.”

A win for Phoenix would give the club home-field advantage for the remainder of the postseason.

“We’re going to continue the motto of we’re thankful we have one more week of football, we have one more game,” Gavin said. “Now we get to be the underdogs. Hasn’t happened for us a lot lately. We’re going to try our best to take it to them and if we get another week of fútbol I think everyone will be excited. We just earned ourselves one more week and that’s all we’re focused on.”