Rick Schantz’s return to the Phoenix Rising touchline could give their conference final opponents an advantage, according to El Paso Locomotive head coach Mark Lowry.

Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, the coach indicated his hope that the move will have a psychological effect on the hosts.

“What happened to them was they went through a pretty bad time as a group,” Lowry said. “Obviously Rick individually, and Junior [Flemmings], but as a group, they’ve kind of galvanized a little bit and rallied around that, and have kicked on a little bit since then. Frankly, they were going through a rough patch, and since then they’ve kind of been winning, so I think they got the bit between their teeth and came together a little bit more.

“I’m thinking maybe, and I’m hoping, that with Rick back, they’ll actually take their foot off the gas a little bit. You know, ‘coach is back now, back to normal,’ and in that moment, we can exploit that.”

Despite the recent controversy, Lowry is looking forward to seeing his counterpart on Saturday.

“I like him,” El Paso’s coach said. “We’ve sat down over beers before – before and after games – and he’s a good guy, so I’m looking forward to seeing him.”

This is Locomotive’s second trip to Phoenix this season, having suffered a 3-1 defeat in August. In that match, the visitors found the net early, exploiting what has been a common issue for Rising this year.

“They have a tendency to [concede early] but we have to make sure as well that in pursuit of that, we don’t leave Asante free going forward and he hurts us at the other end,” Lowry said. “It’s something we’ve noted […] so it’ll be an objective of ours to go after it quickly, but we’re not going to expose ourselves in pursuit of that, so I think that’s important.”

As a whole, the El Paso coach takes comfort in the quality of the performance in that match.

“I thought [that] was the best performance that Locomotive have ever put in, not just against Phoenix, [but] in general,” Lowry said. “We just didn’t score, and that’s been the issue.”

In the end, El Paso had 23 shots, but managed just one goal.

“When you play Phoenix, you may have to score three or four goals to win the game,” Lowry said, “because they have the ability to score three or four goals themselves, and they tend to do it without needing 10, 20, 30 chances. [Solomon] Asante can have one shot and score one goal, which is what he he did the last time we went there.”

But can his side achieve that?

“I think it’s our turn to win this time,” Lowry said. “I think the performances against them have gotten better, to where the confidence now is there, and we feel like we can go and win the game.