Sacramento Republic continues winning ways at home, rallies to topple Tulsa

Duke Lacroix had seen enough. The Sacramento Republic defender watched the Quails struggle at home last year, sometimes enduring scoring droughts as they simply couldn’t finish dangerous chances.

With Sunday’s game tied at 1-1 late in the second half against Tulsa, Lacroix doinked a shot off the left side of the Tulsa goal hard enough to leave a dent. A few minutes later, he fed the the ball in to Douglas Martinez Jr., who gave it right back to a charging Lacroix. Lacroix sailed through the Tulsa defense and hammered a shot into the middle of the goal to give Sacramento a 2-1 win.

Lacroix entered the game as a substitute in the 69th minute and immediately made his presence felt. Asked about his first shot, which made a loud “ping” noise, Lacroix joked, “I think they have to replace the goal for next week.”

And of course they scored a goal. The 28-year-old said this year’s Republic team is different. They came back from a 1-0 deficit to win the season opener two weeks ago and came back from 1-0 down to beat Tulsa on Sunday.

“We’re a group that really believes in ourselves,” Lacroix said. “We have the coaching staff behind us, the fans behind us and all the technical staff behind us. My team has a lot of grit and determination. We really hope that displays on the field.”

Sacramento outshot Tulsa 15-10, with five shots on goal to Tulsa’s three. The game also included six yellow cards (four for Tulsa; two for Sacramento). Dan Casey also watched last year as his team consistently missed opportunities to put teams away. The defender wasn’t thrilled with his team’s form but hey, a win’s a win.

“Obviously, it wasn’t a pretty game,” Casey said. “Those wins are probably sweeter. Sometimes it’s not there in the game, so you have to find a better way to win. … It’s nice for a change.”

Casey and Lacroix mostly kept dangerous situations away from goalkeeper Danny Vitiello, who stepped in nicely for Carlos Saldaña, who missed Sunday’s game. Vitiello stopped three shots, allowing the lone Tulsa tally in the 29th minute of the first half.

Sacramento coach Mark Briggs wasn’t exactly unhappy with the effort – Republic had a few dangerous opportunities wasted in the first half – but said the team needed a bit of pushing at halftime.

“The main message was show a little bit of urgency, like you know, let’s get the game going,” he said, “and I thought we did that in the second half.”

And, finally, the Quails might have solved how to score and defend their home turf. “It wasn’t the prettiest of games, but the guys showed the right mentality, the guys showed the right attitude. And when you do that, you grind out results,” Briggs said. “ … I’m really, really pleased with the players, really pleased with their attitude and the mentality that showed in them.”

Sacramento hosts Monterey Bay on Saturday night in their next chance at defending the home turf. And it’s worth noting the Quails once again find themselves in familiar position – fifth in the Western Conference out of 13 teams. The top eight teams make the playoffs. Since its 2014 inception, Sacramento has made the playoffs every season but last year.

This story was originally published March 27, 2022 at 5:28 PM.