Republic FC’s season ends with crushing first-round defeat in USL playoffs
The night didn’t go as planned for Sacramento Republic FC or retiring captain Rodrigo Lopez.
Lopez — Republic FC’s most decorated player in team history — wasn’t allowed to watch the end of Sunday night’s playoff game at Heart Health Park against rival Orange County SC. The 38-year-old was given a red card near the end of the first half of overtime and was sent to the locker room minutes before his team lost in penalty kicks in the opening round of the USL playoffs after a scoreless 120 minutes.
It wound up being the final game for Lopez with the club as the team’s season ended in unceremonious fashion.
“Devastating,” veteran defender and long time teammate Lee Desmond said of Lopez’s ejection. “But look at the career he’s had. He’s not going to be remembered for that (ejection). He’s the best player I’ve ever played with. The best leader I’ve had in my career.”
After playing the entire game to that point, Lopez got tangled with Orange County midfielder Christopher Hegardt just in front of Sacramento’s bench. Hegardt slid and deflected a Lopez pass out of bounds. As he was trying to get up, Lopez walked into him, and it then Hegardt appeared to body slam Lopez to the ground and the two got tangled.
Both received red cards, while the home fans were furious that Lopez had gotta tossed in what wound up being his final game with Republic FC. Lopez last month announced he would retire after the season and step into a player development role with the club.
“I’ll be honest and say I think the referee took an easy way out by sending them both off,” Republic FC manager Neill Collins said. “I have to be very honest, I think the referees have such a tough job, and I think they have such a tough job because the players’ overreaction and faking injury makes their life very hard. And I thought we had multiple occasions of that.
“And I thought we had multiple occasions tonight where players looked really, really hurt, and then miraculously, within 30 seconds, didn’t need treatment and were able to run (without issue). That’s very difficult, and I thought we were victims of that tonight.”
The USL did not immediately provide its report detailing why both players received red cards.
The second overtime period was played with both teams shorthanded and neither scoring, leading to penalty kicks. Orange County won in penalty kicks, 5-4, with the final shot from Republic FC stalwart Jack Gurr being blocked by backup keeper Tetsuya Kadono.
The lively home crowd of 9,367 went silent as Orange County celebrated advancing to the second round of the playoffs — while Republic FC players were left in shock.
“It’s hard to sum up. It doesn’t feel real,” said veteran defender Nick Ross. “On the whole, it wasn’t really much of a game. Two teams didn’t create a lot of chances, and it was going to come down to a moment like that. And unfortunately we were on the wrong end of penalty (kicks).”
Lopez was Republic FC’s most potent offensive threat. He missed well-struck shots in the second half and overtime. But none found the back of the net, continuing a long-running theme for Republic FC in its biggest matches.
Republic FC controlled possession for most of the game and had the edge in shots, 13-11, and corner kicks, 10-3. They had one shot on goal while Orange County won despite not having any.
The night marked another disappointing end to a promising season for Republic FC, which finished the regular season as the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference but failed to hoist a trophy. The club had a chance to lift its first trophy since winning a USL Championship in 2014 when it hosted Hartford Athletic in early October in the final for the newly created Jagermeister Cup, but lost 1-0.
The club’s yearning for trophies is why the club hired Collins in the offseason to replace Mark Briggs, who managed successful regular season teams for Republic FC but never won a championship after getting hired in 2019.
“I know where the club’s at in respect to success, it’s winning a trophy,” Collins said. “That’s what everyone craves, that’s why I’m here. We put ourselves in position in the (Jagermeister) Cup. We didn’t capitalize, and we didn’t put ourselves in the position I thought we would in the playoffs.
“I’m very clear on where this club needs to improve. The (scoring) area has been an issue for multiple years. We don’t score enough goals, and we’ve not scored enough goals, we’ve not had players that score enough goals. And we’re going to remedy that.”
Off the field, Republic FC faces an offseason that will likely include a number of personnel changes, including reconstructing the roster following Lopez’s retirement. And the team will spend its final season at Heart Health Park in 2026 before the planned move to its new stadium in the downtown Railyards in the spring of 2027.
