A glorious 2024 campaign at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park ended as sourly as it could.

Up to the 48th minute Saturday night, Oliver Larraz had been playing one of his best games of the season, particularly on the defensive end. But one mistake from the 23-year-old turned the game on its head.

The Colorado Rapids’ 1-0 loss to the Seattle Sounders means home-field advantage in the first round of the playoffs is out of reach after Real Salt Lake found a late winner over San Jose to cement a fourth-place finish in the Western Conference.

For Rapids coach Chris Armas, the focus now shifts to the two-week break before the regular season’s final game against Austin FC and how to apply lessons learned in his team’s four losses in its last five games.

“It was electric for me that the building had a lot of energy, but we fell short. We’ll be back in the playoffs, so we’re looking forward to that,” Armas said. “These games, especially these last two (losses to Seattle and L.A. Galaxy) are good prep for the playoffs and what those games are like with good teams and experienced players. The margins are thin.”

Against Seattle, one such moment lay outside those margins. In the 48th minute, midfielder Larraz made a bad attempt at a back pass, which landed between defenders Andreas Maxsø and Lalas Abubakar.

While the two miscommunicated on whose ball it was, Seattle forward Jordan Morris took the ball, touched it around Abubakar and ripped a shot on goal. Zack Steffen made a good save, but the ball fell to Albert Rusnák, who buried it, with help from a deflection by Maxsø.

Colorado defender and captain Keegan Rosenberry passed the ball to Larraz, who at that moment was checking over his shoulder for a Seattle player. The pass was a bit outside of Larraz’s path, which led to the awkward touch and left Rosenberry with a bit of the blame.

“I certainly feel a lot of that on my shoulders; I hold my hand up,” Rosenberry said. “I think I’m most disappointed with myself there after not dribbling past (Seattle winger Paul) Rothrock with the first touch to play forward.”

In front of a sellout crowd of 18,096 at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park for the Rapids’ final home game of the regular season, the Rapids’ best chance came in the first half on a free kick, where Abubakar got his head on a cross and put it slightly over the bar.

After the final whistle, Armas brought the team into an on-field huddle.

“There was one message: Let’s keep doing the right things for the right reasons, let’s keep doing the right things that got us here, and let’s stick to who we are,” Armas said.

The Rapids, now 15-13-5, will have one more shot to avoid sliding further in the standings in a road game against Austin at 7 p.m. Oct. 19.

Worst case scenario, the Rapids could end up in the ninth seed and play on the road in a play-in game. Conversely, with a win against Austin, they could move back up as high as fifth.