Sacramento Republic clinches home playoff game with 4-0 drubbing of San Diego Loyal
Sacramento Republic FC manager Mark Briggs spoke to his team at midfield after Saturday night’s regular season finale and held four fingers in the air.
The significance: four more wins and his team would be league champions.
“Now it’s a four-game season,” team captain Conor Donovan said. “We have experience in that and we’re going to lean on that.”
That experience stems largely from the club’s run earlier this year to the U.S. Open Cup final — a seven-game marathon that overlapped the USL season starting in April. It included beating a trio of MLS teams before losing to Orlando City on Sept. 7 in a game that was tabbed the biggest in club history.
On Saturday, Sacramento had one of its better performances of 2022, thumping San Diego Loyal 4-0 in front of another sold-out crowd at Heart Health Park. The road team, which had little to play for, having already wrapped up the No. 2 seed in the USL’s Western Conference playoffs, didn’t put up much a fight with many of its B-siders and backup keeper on the pitch. But Sacramento was clearly locked in from the jump.
That’s because Republic entered the night needing a win or a tie for the No. 4 seed to host a first-round playoff game next Saturday against New Mexico United. Sacramento scored three goals in the first 15 minutes and added another in the 81st for good measure.
“I thought the guys were excellent from start to finish, from the first second to the last second,” Briggs said. “It was a complete performance and the perfect time to show that complete performance.”
Republic stalwart Rodrigo Lopez scored the first goal with a swift right foot from the left corner of the 18-yard box tying him with Maalique Foster to lead the team with seven goals on the season. Keko got the second goal from outside the goalie’s box when San Diego keeper Jorge Ojeda-Ruiz was out of position after trying to make himself available on a throw in.
Sacramento native Matt LaGrassa smoked a volley from the top of the box in the 15th minute to make it 3-0 with a shot that screamed to the top of the net. Luther Archimede put away the final goal after he possessed the ball away from the keeper and got behind him for an easy finish.
Republic FC finished the season 15-8-11 with 53 points in league play for the No. 4 seed in the 14-team Western Conference. And while the club would have liked to finish higher in the standings, Briggs indicated the stated goal was to host a USL playoff game after spending so much energy in the U.S. Open Cup, a separate but parallel competition.
“I think if you had said to me at the start of the year we would reach the Open Cup final and we would finish in the top four with a home playoff game, I would have ripped your hand off,” said Briggs, who mentioned his team’s 42 games this season tied New York City FC for the most games played by any professional team in the country.
“Those players have been magnificent from day one to now,” Briggs said.
Why was getting a home playoff game so important? Sacramento finished the season 9-2-5 at Heart Health Park while scoring 28 goals and allowing just 11. On the road they scored 16 goals and allowed 22 with a 6-6-6 record.
“It’s the biggest thing for us,” Donovan said of getting the home game. “Look at what we had tonight. A sold-out crowd. It felt like I had a third lung (from the fans). I’m sure all the guys can say the same. They drive us, and that’s the reason we play this game is to play in front of fans like this and we have the best fans in the league for a reason.”
Republic FC this season against New Mexico, next Saturday’s opponent in the playoff opener, drew 0-0 in Sacramento back in May and won 2-1 on the road Aug. 3. This season marks the eighth trip to the USL playoffs in Republic FC’s nine years of existence. Sacramento is trying to win its second USL championship in team history.
“We wanted to get a home game and obviously we have now,” Briggs said. “So now, hopefully, Sacramento, we can pack the stadium, we can fill out the stadium, and we can get behind our team and we can create another memorable evening.”
This story was originally published October 16, 2022 at 8:53 AM.
