USL soccer: Led by an aggressive goalkeeper, Sacramento Republic’s defense is key

It would be easy to just tell you Danny Vitiello likes doughnuts.

The Sacramento Republic goalkeeper buys his defenders doughnuts as a treat now and then; he also likes the doughnuts his team puts on the scoreboard on a regular basis.

Get it?

But there’s more than an easy writing angle behind Republic’s defense. Sacramento players are aggressive. They attack the ball and take care of dangerous situations before they get out of hand. In their U.S. Open Cup run, the Quails allowed just two goals in their six wins. Now in the USL’s Western Conference semifinals, Vitiello and company are enjoying the doughnuts once again.

“(Coach Mark Briggs) uses the word ruthless,” Vitiello said. “And I think that’s the mentality we have going into games is being super hard to beat, not letting anyone get by us too easily. And if one person gets by, the next person is coming in to smash them and try and win that ball.”

Against Colorado on Saturday night, the Republic will have their work cut out for them.

While Sacramento finished fourth out of 27 USL teams with 34 goals allowed, Colorado scored 62 times to win the No. 2 seed in the conference. Sacramento scored 50. If they follow their U.S. Open Cup playbook, the Republic will likely be content to form a tight defensive shell and look for opportunities to counterpunch against Colorado. That was a formula that got Sacramento all the way to the U.S. Open Cup final.

“We’ve got to just use that experience and what it was like last time to get the game plan the same and really impose ourselves on them and show them what we’ve got,” defender Jack Gurr said.

In the offseason, Briggs and team president Todd Dunivant focused on improving the defense. Briggs said before the season Gurr was a petulant defender, the kind of guy other teams hate but you love to have on your roster.

“It’s all about mentality and attitude,” Briggs said. “And I think when you have the hunger, that desire, the right focus and the mentality, that it’s going to be hard.”

Vitiello fits right in with that mentality. He’s aggressive. He likes to run off the goal line and take balls out of the air before the other team has a chance to take control and earn a shot. While other keepers sometimes are too aggressive, handing opponents an easy look at the goal, Vitiello rarely makes a misstep that costs his team.

“That’s just our team in general,” he said. “I think everyone takes pride in having and getting a zero. … I’m lucky to be behind such a talented group of guys who not only take pride in winning but keeping the ball out. I tell the guys all the time, that it’s a team thing, getting a clean sheet, you know, it’s not about me. And even if I do have to make a save, usually it’s a lot easier with the guys trying to block the shots.”

His numbers bear that out. Vitiello’s 59 saves are nearly half the league leader’s tally of 115, yet Sacramento has the fourth-most shutouts in the league with 12.

Vitiello came to Sacramento from Pittsburgh, where he had the lowest goals-against average in 2020. He and his wife, Sabrina, have made Sacramento their home. He credits her with doing an amazing job with helping the family transition to a new home yet again, with Sacramento the third stop of his professional career.

It could also be the last stop. He’s not looking to leave town. The team loves his attitude and play. The only thing that could take him away, he said, would be a promotion.

Does that mean a higher league? No, a front-office job would pull him away, he said. That’s probably a few years off, given his play.

“This is my home now,” he said. “I love the atmosphere that the fans bring to the stadium. It’s easy to want to stay here when you’ve got 12,000 fans coming to every home game and showing out.”

He also gets recognized at Target or in coffee shops around town, he said. None of that’s normal in the USL. Other teams don’t get thousands of rowdy fans. Players aren’t recognized on coffee runs.

And you know what pairs well with coffee? Doughnuts. Get it?

It’s all too easy. But we know this much: Vitiello and Co. would like to snack on pastries again next week if they can get past Colorado to the Western Conference final. If they don’t, the defense will have a long winter to ruminate on the almost-was season that just finished.