The third-place Switchbacks are smack dab in the middle of a tight Western Conference playoff race and hit the road looking for valuable points at defending United Soccer League champion Sacramento.

Colorado Springs (11-7-2) plays at fifth-place Republic FC (10-7-3) at 9 p.m. Saturday (8 p.m. Pacific) in a tight race for the two first-round playoff byes in late September.

Only five points separate first-place Seattle (36 points) and sixth (Tulsa, 31). LA Galaxy II (35), Colorado Springs (35), Oklahoma City (34) and Sacramento (33) are jockeying for position in between. Seattle is ahead of LA because of a head-to-head tiebreaker.

The standings should prove plenty fluid for the remaining eight regular-season games with teams hop-scotching over the other after each game.

“We need to get back to playing the way we need to play,” coach Steve Trittschuh said after Wednesday’s 1-0 home loss to Tulsa. “It will be a real challenge in Sacramento. They are the defending champions and are a good club. They have certain players we will need to keep track of who are dangerous with numbers. Of course, we do to.”

Sacramento is paced by Rodrigo Lopez with 22 points (nine goals, five game-winners) in 16 games and Max Rauhofer (seven goals). Goalkeeper Patrick McClain allows 1.20 goals and makes 4.9 saves.

Switchbacks forward Luke Vercollone is fourth in the USL with 27 points (10 goals) in 19 games while rookie Miguel Gonzalez is tied for seventh with 21 (eight goals) in 18 appearances.

All road games are streamed live on gazette.com.