New Zealand international Noah Billingsley put in a “fantastic” performance in Rising’s 1-0 loss to Real Salt Lake, according to Rising head coach Rick Schantz.

Billingsley, currently contracted to MLS side Minnesota United, lined up at right-back in the Sun Cup clash. He was initially introduced in the match as “Trialist 12”.

In a fiesty game that came close to spilling over on a handful of occasions prior to injury time handbags, a peach of a strike from Albert Rusnák proved to be the difference between the sides.

“I thought the first group, for the first 25 minutes were OK,” Schantz said. “[They] created a little bit of danger. I think if Prince [Saydee] or Seyi [Adekoya] get an early goal, the whole game changes a little bit.”

With the back line featuring Billingsley, Ryan Flood, James Musa and academy player Niall Dunn, a new role was found for Jeremy Kelly: playing as a holding midfielder.

“He’s been playing some midfield at Colorado,” Schantz said. “Probably, he’s a guy who can do five or six different positions, but I think for us in midfield he’s shown very good composure.”

Kelly’s versatility is likely to be important to his chances to feature on the field, with Rising boasting depth across all defensive positions.

“I’m very, very pleased,” Schantz said. “I think that right now we’re starting to see the whole group has raised a level and we just have to still get a little bit more intense and pressure, and get after these teams a little bit with more aggressiveness.”

While there’s certainly a lot of depth, that’s not to say the head coach doesn’t have most of his lineup in mind ahead of the season opener at the end of the month.

“I think we’re pretty close,” Schantz said, before adding that there are two or three spots still in contention.

Reflecting specifically on the game at hand, the Tucson native singled out his two starting wingers on the night as having areas to improve.

“I thought that unfortunately Prince [Saydee] and Ivan [Gutiérrez], they were a little too passive in their defending,” Schantz said. “They found themselves dropping way, way too deep. Instead of being in a 4-3-3, we were often in a 4-5-1, and there were even times were I thought we had six guys across the back line.”

The result against RSL saw Rising fall yet again in preseason play, with the side yet to win a match in 2021. That doesn’t concern the team’s coach, though.

“We knew it’d be a slower preseason [than last year], but what I’ve seen from every performance is a big, big improvement,” Schantz said. “You saw tonight, I think, the level of intensity is there. It’s getting there, so once that’s at the top, this team’s going to be very good.”