Oakland Roots pulled off a 4-2 win over Las Vegas Lights on Wednesday night at the Coliseum, moving them up to fourth place in the USL Championship’s Western Conference. It turned out to be a historic victory for Roots, with Peter Wilson landing the organization’s first hat trick in the league and first since Jack McInerney landed three goals in the club’s inaugural game back in 2019.
Wilson got his first in the 18th minute after good ball movement outside the box led to a through ball to Wolfgang Prentice, sending a stellar low cross from the left side to find Wilson in front of the net for the tap in.
Oakland doubled their lead four four minutes later. This time, Bertin Jacquesson worked up the right wing before putting a good through ball into the box to find Faysal Bettache. After taking a couple of dribbles, Bettache fired an emphatic left-footed shot into the top left bin in the 22nd minute of the match.
Roots’ third goal was a near carbon copy of their first goal. Again, Prentice found space up the left side before sending an inch-perfect perfect cross to Wilson in front. The striker put a silky touch on the ball to redirect it home in the 58th minute.
Las Vegas made things interesting with back-to-back goals in the 69th minute by Oalex Anderson and Johnny Rodriguez in the 78th, but Oakland wasn’t done.
After making a furious run into the Vegas box, Wilson drew contact in his back to draw the penalty kick that would lead to his historic goal. Wilson stepped to the spot, firing it to the right side of the net in the 87th minute to land his hat trick.
Here are our talking points and our Man of the Match.
Peter Wilson finds his form
How important was that performance by Wilson?
The match started looking like another night where Wilson was going to rue missed chances after an attempt went wide right in the fourth minute that was nearly identical to his miss against FC Tulsa the previous week.
Wilson hardly celebrated after his first goal of the match in the 18th minute. Instead of his usual jump in the air or dance toward the crowd, he mostly honored Prentice for his stellar pass. But that changed after his second goal, taking a silky touch to finish Wolfgang’s pass, and then beamed the ear-to-ear smile that Roots’ fans became accustomed to.
“Peter was tremendous. I’ve told you guys that he’s put a lot of work in for many weeks. We kept telling him, ‘It will come. It will come.’ I’m not sure he fully believed that. I think he was a little hard on himself. But he showed his class tonight,” coach Ryan Martin said.
His performance felt like the weight that was bearing down on Wilson’s shoulder finally went away.
“I’ve been telling myself, just get one, then get another. If I got the first one, I thought the second one is all that mattered. When the second one came in, I was like, ‘Okay, now we’re on, for real,'” Wilson said.
The striker arrived at the press conference with a supporters’ group scarf wrapped around his neck and a game ball with an autograph from every player on the team. Martin mentioned that Wilson told the rest of the team that his performance was theirs to share.
“He made a good statement after the game. He said every single person reminded him to stay the course, stay calm, and the goals were coming. He had a lot of reassurance from the people around him that things would continue to grow. We think the same for Danny Trejo as well. Once he gets one, things will get going,” Martin said.
“It feels amazing, honestly. Being a part of this team, each and every one is supportive. The team dynamic is amazing. I give them credit for the three goals; they’ve been pushing me to become a better player. Without them its not possible,” Wilson mentioned.
Wolfgang Prentice’s emergence
Wolfgang Prentice logged two assists to bring his goal contributions up to four goals and three assists, which is just one goal and one assist behind his total from last year. Both of his seven goal contributions and assists are in a three-way tie for the league lead.
His performance through seven games has been instrumental toward Roots’ success. When asked about what he’s seen from Prentice, Martin praised his effort in training and games, saying that he covered ground at an MLS level.
“He’s incredible the way he approaches training and how he gets after each game. The amount of high-speed running he does is an MLS-type level and the level of elite players in this league. It’s impossible to keep up with him when he’s making different runs; he can come central or go wide. We were interested to see how it’d work without [Julian] Bravo, because we feel their partnership has been good.”
Wilson’s first goal was the product of interplay among CSU Northridge teammates, in which Trejo beat his defender one-on-one before picking out Prentice moving into the box. Prentice then sent a perfect ball across the net, placing it squarely in front of Las Vegas GK Jared Mazzola.
They also connected on the third goal, where Wolfgang initially headed the ball to Trejo, who served a pass back to him before Prentice’s assist to Wilson.
“Him and Danny Trejo were quite good as well. It was great combination play to get into the box. Wolfgang honestly doesn’t care if he scores or assists; he just wants to play and win games. He’s been a pleasure to work with,” Martin said.
Martin’s system at work
Aside from Wilson making Roots’ history by becoming the club’s only player during their time in the USL Championship to accomplish a hat trick, their seven-goal contributions of four goals and three assists were also a new single-game record-high for the organization.
“We want to be one of the top attacking teams. You saw it tonight in a lot of different ways. The quality was impressive for the guys,” Martin said.
Oakland now has 12 goals through its seven games, which is also their highest total in the USL Championship. It eclipses 2022’s total at this point of 11; they had 10 goals right now in 2024, seven in 2025, and six in 2023 and 2021.
Martin is still in the early days of deploying his system, but the signs are there that Oakland could become one of the most potent offensive teams in the league.
“We talk about being collective about what we want to do, making the right decision at the right time. You look at the body of work from the first seven games, a lot of different people are influencing the game. We know Peter will score a lot of goals and Trejo will, but we also want Wolfy to continue scoring. We want to have a top attack, and to do it, you have to be unpredictable. You have to have a lot of pieces to do it,” Martin said.
Wilson said everyone is “buying in” to Martin’s gameplan.
“The way we work right now is very intentional. We know what we want to do. Everyone is buying into the gameplan. We are seeing it’s working and it gives us confidence. We’ve been scoring with a lot of different players, so we’re making the chances. We’re becoming a dangerous team, defenses can’t just check on the striker, but on the wingers and the midfielders,” Wilson said.
Injuries and finding bodies
The topic remains unavoidable; injuries are still plaguing the roster. It was evident by how Tommy McCabe was shifted to center back, Prentice to fullback, while Florian Valot sat deeper in the midfield.
Martin provided an update on injured players like Tyler Gibson, Julian Bravo, and David Garcia.
For Gibson, Martin indicated he remains “day-to-day” and is expected back soon: “Tyler is day-to-day. We probably could’ve risked it if we wanted to, but we felt comfortable with where we were.”
Martin also called Bravo a “short-term” injury: “Bravo’s a short-term injury. We don’t think that’s going to be anything major.”
As for Gracia, it’s looking like he’s going to require extended time.
“David is going to be a little bit longer. We just met with the doctors and followed up with some things. That one is, unfortunately, more substantial. It’s not season-ending by any stretch, but we don’t expect him back immediately.”
It brings up the topic of signing free agents. When asked about possible additions, Martin mentioned that things could be heating up.
“We always have our eyes on people. Nana [Attakora] has a list of people that he keeps and talks to; those discussions are happening every day. Even without the injuries, you’re always trying to make your team better. When it gets pretty serious, I get involved in terms of where we go. We’ve had conversations about different players who can potentially help us,” Martin said.
I pressed Martin on whether things are getting “pretty serious,” responding: “Yeah, I’m involved, so it’s somewhat serious, yeah.”
Man of the Match: Peter Wilson
As if it could’ve been anyone else. Peter Wilson made team history with his three goals, further cementing his place as an Oakland Roots legend.
FotMob gave him a 9.7. He recorded four shots on target in six attempts, took nine touches in the box with 40 in total, won seven of 13 ground duels, two of three aerial duels, and completed 13 of 16 passes.
What a night.
Press Conference
Ryan Martin
Peter Wilson
Starting Lineups
- Oakland Roots
Notable changes include a back line of Michael Edwards and Tommy McCabe at the center back spots, while the fullback spots will be filled by Wolfgang Prentice on the left and Jesus de Vicente on the right. With that, Florian Valot gets his first start of the season. It’ll either be him or Faysal Bettache opposite of Bobosi Byaruhanga. In the attack, Peter Wilson starts at striker, accompanied by Danny Trejo, Bertin Jacquesson, and Bettache/Valot.
Keegan Tingey also makes his debut on the bench.
- Las Vegas Lights
Timeline
Wilson quick shot on target – 2′
Wilson misses a chance just like against Tulsa – 4′
Nice feed into the box by Valot, but pulled it to the right
LV free kick – 9″
long ball in headed across the area, leads to nothing.
Dangerous ball to Johnny – 13′
Wolfy there to clean it up
Sharp ball from Trejo to Wilson, tries to volley it on target but it goes way wide – 16′
ROOTS GOAL – 18′
ITS WILSON. Great pass by Wolfgang Prentice to find Peter unmarked. Prentice’ pass hits off the GKs outstretched hand, Wilson there to clean it up.
Corner – 20′
ROOTS GOAL- 22′
ITS FAYSAL BETTACHE. A great feed by Bertin Jacquesson into the box, left footed rocket to the top bin. Roots lead 2-nil
Bettache’s first of the year, second in a Roots uniform
Corner – 26′
Free kick good area – 28′
About 12 yards above area on left side.
Corner – 35′
Another corner- 35′
Corner – 39′
First half notes:
Great first half from Oakland has them up 2-nil with goals just 4 mins apart. Despite a mixed group w/out a starting CB, just 1 shot allowed. Roots with 61% possession, 6 shots, 3 on target.
Corner – 47′
Ball falls to Trejo, he tries a shot on the volley and its blocked.
LV shot from distance wide 50′
PETER WILSON GOAL – 58′
Another great pass from Wolfgang Prentice from the left side, first touch and he rolls it in. Wilson’s second of the game, Wolfgang’s second assist to him
Corner – 63′
Jackson Kiil coming on.
Kiil on, Jacquesson off – 67′
Las Vegas scores – 69′
Ball in behind, Spiegel rushes out and Anderson takes a touch by him, shoots into the empty net.
Valot being checked out – 72′
Tingey and Elmasnaouy coming on – 73′
Both players’ season debut. Valot and Trejo off.
Kiil goes for a low header, goes wide – 75′
LV free kick on left side outside area – 77′
LV goal, its 3-2 – 78′
Johnny Rodriguez scores against his old side. Redirects a sharp pass in the box. Not good defense from Roots.
Peter Wilson draws a PK – 86′
Chance for Roots’ first hat trick in the USL Championship.
HAT TRICK! Roots first-ever in the USL Championship, first since Jack McInerney on 2019’s NISA team.
Also marks Roots’ most goal contributions ever in a game with seven. Three goals Wilson, one goal Bettache, two assists Wolfgang, one assist Jacquesson.
Emilio Martinez and Roberson coming on – 90+1′
Bettache and Wilson off.
LV free kick near right corner flag – 90+5′