A season ago, Las Vegas Lights FC was the toast of the USL Championship after one of the legendary turnaround campaigns in league history, with former Head Coach Dennis Sanchez pulling all the pieces together after a rocky start to finish in the top four in the West.

This season, under new Head Coach Antonio Nocerino, the Lights are once again in contention for the postseason. We’re just a little confused – and have a few concerns – as to how that’s transpired so far this year.

You see, the Lights have one of the lightest attacking outputs of any team in the Championship, give up far more chances than they create – and are also proving absolutely impossible to beat if you let them score first.

• GRINDING IT OUT: The Lights earned arguably their most impressive win of the season on Saturday night at Cashman Field, knocking off Eastern Conference leader Loudoun United FC 1-0 behind Johnny Rodriguez’s first-half goal. Goalkeeper Raiko Arozarena made that stand up, recording a five-save shutout that included some key late stops to hold the visitors at bay as United held a 17-6 advantage in shots overall.

• BOOM OR BUST: The result was the latest example of Las Vegas’ resilience. When things have gone wrong for the side defensively, opponents have taken advantage with FC Tulsa (4-1) and New Mexico United (3-2) taking wins at Cashman Field. But when it’s gone right, there have been no half-measures for the Lights in league play, with the side having also posted a league-high five shutouts otherwise. When the Lights score first, they’ve won every game, one of five teams that has yet to drop a point from a winning position this season.

• STORM CLOUDS AHEAD: While that’s the case, the Lights’ underlying numbers say they could be in for a rocky run as the season goes on. The club currently sports an Expected Goal Differential of -2.95xGD, and in American Soccer Analysis’ modeling its Expected Points mark sits at 6.52xP, third-lowest in the league, having won the Expected Goals battle in only three of seven games, and those by a combined 0.2xG.

To give Nocerino credit, he certainly seems aware the sort of performance the Lights produced against Loudoun won’t be sustainable long-term.

“The result is positive and the players’ [organization] without the ball was amazing and everyone was helping; it’s unbelievable,” he said. “I want to play better with the ball [in the future] because there was a lot of mistakes technically, and I don’t want to suffer [defensively as much].”

With the regular season a quarter-complete, the direction the Lights’ performances take between now and midseason is going to be one worth paying close attention to.