COMMERCE CITY, Colo. – Since the loss of Luis Solignac to a hamstring injury, the Colorado Rapids have continued to search for answers in the attack. In Saturday’s 1-0 win against the Chicago Fire they found one in Dillon Serna, whose goal 48 seconds into the match secured Colorado’s first victory in a month.
Although it wasn’t one of the top 10 fastest goals in MLS history, or even the fastest in Rapids history, the goal provided a much-needed boost for a Colorado team struggling to keep its slim playoff hopes alive, and for Serna, who’s been fighting for minutes throughout the 2015 campaign.
“It was a relief,” Serna said of the goal. “I've found myself in and out of the lineup and it's been frustrating but whenever you score a goal it's going to be in the back of the coach's mind.”
The Brighton, Colorado product also appears to possess all the characteristics Rapids head coach Pablo Mastroeni is looking for when selecting a game-day lineup.
“Individual characteristics like craving pressure and working well under pressure, and not being scared to make mistakes are all personal characteristics of players that perform well in games.” Mastroeni said last week.
Like teammate Dillon Powers, Serna’s challenge has been maintaining a consistent development curve throughout the course of the season.
“For me, I’ve just got to keep being consistent,” he explained. “I have to create opportunities. If it’s not scoring goals or getting assists, I have to make things happen and be confident in myself. When we don’t have the ball, I’ve got to work hard defensively to get it back.”
For the majority of 2015, the focus for the 21-year-old Homegrown has been centered on the US Under-23 team’s preperations for Olympic qualifiers. But with 10 games remaining in his club’s campaign, Serna has shifted his emphasis on the team’s final push.
“So much can change and we’ve seen it every year, so I don’t think there’s any better time than right now,” he said. “At this point, we have to be winning games. We can’t sit in, wait for teams and absorb pressure. We have to take the game to them and create things ourselves.”
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In their latest fixture, Colorado looked to achieve that with Serna combining with veterans Kevin Doyle and Gabriel Torres, who is also looking to re-establish a spot in the starting 11 after significant time away following Gold Cup duty.
“Between Gabriel Torres, Kevin Doyle and myself, all three of us have played in the system before and have the ability to score goals, so I think we can be really dangerous,” Serna explained. “As long as we put our chances away and play strong defensively, we can compete with anyone in this league.”
The competition will also continue internally. Serna continues to fight for the chance to contribute down the stretch, beginning with Wednesday night’s fixture against Houston (9 pm ET; MLS LIVE); the first of two home matches this week in Colorado.
“I’ve scored a few goals, but I just want to keep being consistent and getting those minutes,” Serna said. “Hopefully I can be a part of the next 10 games. I think we’ll be ready to attack [Houston], especially here at home.”
