Sacramento Republic

2017 US Open Cup Round 3: Sacramento Republic’s “complete performance” leads to win over Reno 1868

June 1, 2017 by Thomas Hodul

Sacramento Republic had their most complete performance of the year to top new rivals, Reno 1868, 2-0 in the Third Round of the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup.

The Republic were led by a goal and an assist from forward Trevin Caesar to earn the right to host their first ever MLS side in their home stadium in the Fourth Round against Real Salt Lake.

“I thought it was a complete performance from our boys tonight and now we face an MLS team,” said Republic head coach Paul Buckle.

The Republic took control of the game straight from the first whistle and were all over Reno from the start. Their best effort came in the 11th minute when Trevin Caesar dribbled the ball to the center of the box before firing it just wide.

They created more chances in the 18th minute when Reno goalie Russ Klabough was forced to parry the shot from Danny Barrera wide before a follow up shot from Agustin Cazarez forced a second save out of the Reno keeper.

Sacramento continued its relentless pressure for most of the first half. They were eventually rewarded with a goal when Caesar slipped the ball into Harry Williams who buried his chance to give the Republic the lead just before the break, 1-0.

“I was thrilled to see Trevin Caesar build on Saturday. That’s the Trevin Caesar the fans want to see, and I want to see running in behind teams, using his pace,” Buckle said.

The second half played out very similar to the first as the Republic were clicking on every level.

“It was a wonderful performance tonight. I thought the players were magnificent tonight,” Buckle said. “You saw fight, you saw energy, you saw goals, you saw chances created and a clean sheet, against a good side.”

Caesar went on to cap his performance when he found the back of the net in 59th minute.

“Trevin’s finish was excellent. I was wanting him to pass it into Sammy and he just drove it bottom corner,” Buckle said.

Reno would push for a goal, which left them exposed at the back, allowing Sacramento a few more chances to kill the match off, but they were unable to capitalize. For the expansion side, they are the first professional team from Nevada to ever qualify for the tournament.

“I desperately wanted to win the game, you know, so we can get an MLS side,” Buckle said. “It’s what we want to see. It’s what ownership wanted. We all wanted it, and we got it and I’m proud of the boys, I’m very proud of the team tonight.”

2017 US Open Cup Round 2: Sacramento Republic overcome poor league form with emphatic win vs. Anahuac FC

May 23, 2017 by Evan Ream

If any team appeared prime for upsetting heading into the Second Round of the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup, it was Sacramento Republic FC.

In the midst of an 0-5-1 run in USL play in which the club had failed to score a goal in a club-record 563 minutes, the Republic were in arguably the worst form of their history, and facing an FC Anahuac side that had just come off an opportunistic penalty kick victory over the Sonoma County Sol.

But from minute one until the final whistle, this game was all Republic all the time as the Sacramento club ended their drought in an emphatic fashion: a 4-0 victory that advanced them to a third round game against USL expansion club Reno 1868 FC. The winner will host Real Salt Lake of MLS in Round 4.

“It’s been ages since we scored a goal, you never come out in front of guys and make excuses,” said Republic head coach Paul Buckle. “We’ve not found the back of the net in these games and it’s cost us, it’s cost us a lot of games. It’s been a very difficult time, and it still is.

“Any level of football, against any level of opposition, you’re going to come unstuck, as we did last year,” he added. “I thought the players, first of all, we approached the game in the right manner. I asked the boys to forget what had gone on before and focus on being on the front foot and being on a tempo, and we did. I think all night, we actually got better.”

English striker Harry Williams was the star on the night, becoming the third Republic player to tally multiple goals in the club’s nine-game Open Cup history.

Set up on crosses from wing back Elliot Hord, Williams struck in the 12th and 15th minutes to put the game out of reach early and become the Republic’s first goalscorer in over a month.
“It’s about time, isn’t it?” Williams said after the match.

He was joined on the scoresheet midway through the second half by substitute, and birthday boy, Wilson Kneeshaw, who was brought down in the penalty box and stepped up to send Anahuac goalkeeper Angel Alvarez the wrong way.

After not having scored for so long, the Republic sent waves of attackers forward until the last minute of the game, and were again rewarded when Trinidad and Tobago international Trevin Caeser broke through on goal in the left side of the box.

Though Caeser’s shot was saved by Alvarez, the rebound fell to fellow substitute Daniel Trickett-Smith, and the ex-Liverpool youth player struck a side volley into the back of the net that caused the crowd of 5,308 at Papa Murphy’s Park to erupt in exuberance.

With the win, the Republic improved to 6-2-1 in all-time Open Cup play, with the draw coming as a heartbreaking penalty kick loss in 2015 to the San Jose Earthquakes.

2016 US Open Cup Round 3: Kitsap Pumas do their homework, stun Sacramento Republic

June 2, 2016 by Evan Ream

Sometimes all it takes for an upset in the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup is a bit of homework.

Or for the Premier Development League’s Kitsap Pumas in its 3-1 victory over against the USL’s Sacramento Republic FC, a massive scouting report put together by a former Sports Illustrated writer.

“This genius to my right here put together a fantastic scouting report on ,” said Pumas head coach Cameron MacDonald, pointing to goalkeeper coach and former SI man Liviu Bird. “Our staff are pretty committed. We spend hours and hours studying footage. We had a plan.”

That game plan involved shutting down Sacramento’s bombing fullbacks to deny them of their biggest offensive threats and making the Republic play through the middle where its mainly defensive midfielders failed to create anything of consequence.

“We’ve prepared as well as we thought we possibly could,” MacDonald said. “In my reflection of the game, I don’t think anyone watching it back can be disappointed with the way they played and with the outcome.”

Of course, the ball still had to be dispatched into the back of the net by the young Pumas team, who with the victory earned a fourth round match-up with intrastate side Seattle Sounders FC.

The goals epitomized the players MacDonald lined up on his front line: they came in rapid bursts at great pace towards the goal.

First, Mike Ramos found Javier Castro near the edge of the box in the 60th minute. Castro quickly cut around his man and dispatched the ball into the back of the net for a shock 1-0 lead.

Sacramento scored one minute later when local high school product Cameron Iwasa tapped in a missed clearance.

But just two minutes after that, Ramos would tally the winner, driving home a rebound from a save that Republic goalkeeper Evan Newton couldn’t quite corral.

In the 65th it was over. Castro neatly curled a ball to the far post after a giveaway to complete his brace and give Kitsap one of the biggest upsets of the young tournament.

“If you look at our record in the PDL the last couple of seasons, unbeaten in the regular season last year, one loss the year before,” MacDonald said. “The (players) on the field are on the verge and we’ve seen we can go toe-to-toe with a strong USL lineup … The USL is only a small step away from us. If you do your homework and you have boys that believe in themselves and work together, we’ve seen you can grind out results like this.”

It was a milestone victory for the Pumas who have enjoyed so much success in league play over the years. Now, after four unsuccessful attempts, Kitsap can add “upset a professional team in the US Open Cup” to their club resume.

Republic head coach Paul Buckle didn’t mince his words when speaking to reporters after the match – there would be no excuses from his side.

“You certainly can’t make two mistakes like we did on the back line and expect to advance,” he said. “They’ve punished us and they deserved to go through.”

And as for that June 15 Kitsap date with the Sounders?

“It’s a huge ask for us, but it’s exciting,” MacDonald said. “Some of our guys will go on and play at a good level and maybe have many more nights like that, but other guys knew that they had 90 minutes tonight to earn what might be one shot against an MLS team in their career.

“When that’s the motivation going in it, it’s pretty incredible what can be achieved. We’ll look forward to it. We’ll prepare like we prepared for this and go in with our game plan and see what happens.”

Evan Ream covers Sacramento Republic FC and soccer in Northern California for The Davis Enterprise. Reach him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @EvanReam.

Series of forfeits, teams with ineligible players overshadow 2016 US Open Cup

May 31, 2016 by Evan Ream

With dozens of amateur and professional teams battling for the United States’ true national championship, every Lamar Hunt US Open Cup creates numerous storylines.

Whether it’s the 1999 Rochester Rhinos doing the impossible of becoming the only lower division side to win the final since the introduction of MLS teams, or amateur teams Cal FC and the Michigan Bucks both upsetting MLS teams in 2012, every Cup is usually remembered for at least one or two moments.

The early part of the 2016 edition of the tournament has featured three disqualifications, the most of any competition in the Modern Era (1995-present). And those three disqualifications were just the ones that were caught in what appears to be a combination of spotty rule enforcement from the United States Soccer Federation and a lack of rule awareness by teams and players.

Section 203. Part (c) of the 2016 US Open Cup handbook is pretty clear:

“Any player who plays in any part of an Open Cup match for a team, including any match in any Open Division qualifying round, may not be included in the Open Cup roster or play for any other team in the Open Cup competition for that competition year.”

This rule is new for 2016 as the federation kicked off its inaugural open division qualifying tournament, a single-elimination competition made up of any amateur team that does not belong to the Premier Development League (PDL) or the National Premier Soccer League (NPSL). Prior to this year, players were only cup-tied if they played for a team in the Open Cup proper.

The reason for the ruling was to keep players from jumping from team to team. Occasionally players would play for one team during qualifying and if they got eliminated, sign with a team that qualified.

At publishing time, TheCup.us is aware of at least five teams who broke this rule by fielding or including on their roster cup-tied players in the first or second rounds of the tournament. However, only two of the teams were discovered in time to file a protest and have the result of the match overturned.

1. In their Second Round penalty kick upset victory over the Charleston Battery (USL), the Villages SC of the Premier Development League (PDL) started Paulo Vaz, who had previously played for Boca Raton FC in the open division qualifying tournament that took place last fall. The Battery discovered this after the game and immediately filed a successful protest which eliminated the PDL side and pushed Charleston into the next round.

“We were unaware of Paulo Vaz playing for another team in the qualifying rounds of the Cup,” said Alex Perez, a spokesperson for The Villages SC. “In all of his registration paperwork with us that we filed with the PDL, Paulo listed his last club as Floridians FC. It’s an unfortunate situation.”

Villages SC defeated Kraze United in Round 1 with that same ineligible player, which led Kraze United to file a protest after the Battery match in Round 2 was complete. The protest by Kraze United was denied due to the rule that states that “official match protests are required to be submitted by 5:00 p.m. CT the day following the match. (Section 306. Part (a) of the 2016 US Open Cup handbook.)

2. In a 3-1 First Round loss to the Sacramento Gold, the Burlingame Dragons started Gabe Silveira, who had taken part in the open division qualification tournament for San Francisco City FC.

According to the Dragons, they were told by US Soccer that Silveira was cleared to play. This was not discovered in time and no protest was filed.

3. In that same game, the Sacramento Gold included Andre Brown on their bench, who played for Davis Legacy in the qualifying tournament. While he didn’t appear in the match, just having him on the gameday roster is a potential violation. The USASA has disqualified teams for such a violation during qualifying, however, there is no precedent in the US Open Cup proper in the Modern Era.

4. CD Aguiluchos USA fielded ineligible players in both their first and second round matches. In their 3-0 Round 1 win over San Francisco City, substitute Ahmad Hatifie was cup-tied to Ballistic IFX. CDA also subbed on a cup-tied player in Arthur Bahr in their 5-0 loss to Sacramento Republic FC. Bahr played for San Francisco City in qualifying.

San Francisco, like Kraze United, submitted a protest, but it was also denied since it was filed long after the deadline.

5. Perhaps the most notable protest involved the Ventura County Fusion’s use of Gabe Gonzalez, who had played for Cal FC in qualification, in a 2-1 First Round victory over the LA Wolves FC.

According to the Fusion, the club was aware of Gonzalez’s participation in the qualifying rounds, but were told specifically by USSF that Gonzalez was cleared to play for the Fusion. How did the Wolves know he was ineligible? Because he played against them in qualifying for Cal FC. The Wolves edged Cal FC 2-1 to clinch their first-ever Open Cup berth.

The Wolves protested the decision and the Fusion were disqualified from the tournament.

“Rules are in place for a reason and they must be followed by all teams,” said Skwara. “The new rules for 2016 may not be perfect, but all teams still have to follow the rules or risk the repercussions.”

Ventura County then filed an appeal on the decision, which was denied by the USSF and the Wolves advanced to Round 2 to face the Orange County Blues of the USL.

According to Fusion media coordinator Polo Ascencio, the Fusion were never given a reason for the denial.

“The reply was a very simple, ‘your appeal was not successful,’ Ascencio told TheCup.us. “They just said, ‘no.’”

The federation has yet to confirm why the appeal was denied or if informing teams of the specifics of the decision are a common practice.

Ascencio said decisions like these only hurt the credibility of the tournament and the amateur teams participating in it.

“It needs to change,” Ascencio said of the roster rules. “The teams, the amateur teams, and you guys know this, in the lower levels, they take this very, very seriously for many reasons … it gives you exposure. it’s given us exposure that we didn’t want, not this way. It gives you exposure. It gives your players a chance to play against higher competition as you move on and on and on.”

With the forfeit, the Fusion’s Modern Era record streak of six consecutive First Round victories came to an end.

“We have really good, young talent looking forward for a chance and to have the chance taken away by a system that is broken,” Ascencio said. “But at the end, we did nothing wrong. We asked our players, the players that came forward didn’t play, we thought we were good. But obviously we were not good.

“We asked US Soccer for a list before the tournament started … of players who have played . Give us rosters of the teams that have played so we know,” he added. “To this day, it’s been already a couple of weeks since the started the first round, we don’t have any of those lists.

Ascencio believes the federation must have too much on its plate.

“Either they’re too busy doing something, MLS or Copa America-related, or the US Open Cup doesn’t really matter until you get the big teams in the Cup,” Ascencio said. “It’s a chance for our players to succeed, to put a spotlight on them. It’s a chance for our teams to bring our fans an experience that they might not get with our local, amateur team.

For the Fusion, Ascencio says its a missed opportunity for the team and the players.

“And obviously there’s money involved there,” he concluded. “The more you advance, the more money you can make. For some of these amateur teams … $15,000 could be a lot of money. It could be a couple year’s worth of attendance. It hurts for all the reasons, but at the end of the day it hurts because we won, but at the end, somebody said, ‘no you guys didn’t because you used a player that we said was okay to play. But, guess what, he’s not okay to play.”

Ascencio said that the Fusion plan to participate in future tournaments due to the opportunity it provides but maintains that the kinks need to be worked out.

“There has to be , there has to be,” Ascencio said. “Because if they’re not gonna change it, then things like this are going to keep happening and the teams that are going to be affected are going to be the amateur teams, not the professional teams. This is a cup that is made so that the amateur teams can flex their muscles or go on to face top competition. To have something like this happen, not only to us, but a few other teams around the nation…I feel bad for all those teams,”

None of the other teams involved in the situation that TheCup.us reached out to chose to comment on the record. The US Soccer Federation did not respond to a request for comment.

TheCup.us senior editor Josh Hakala also contributed to this report

2016 US Open Cup Round 2: Sacramento Republic adds another amateur blowout to its tournament resume

May 21, 2016 by Evan Ream

In what’s becoming an annual tradition, Sacramento Republic FC opened its Lamar Hunt US Open Cup campaign in emphatic fashion, defeating NPSL side CD Aguiluchos USA 5-0 Wednesday night at Bonney Field.

Oft-injured midfielder Max Alvarez proved the difference for the Republic, setting up three goals and scoring one for himself from dead balls to help Sacramento advance to a Third Round match-up against Kitsap Pumas of the PDL.

“We were very clinical from set plays, very clinical, right to the very end with Max’s goal,” said Republic head coach Paul Buckle. “We could have scored more, I wanted to score more goals. There were opportunities for our strikers to get more goals. They didn’t come, but I’m very pleased with the clean sheet.”

It took the Republic just 24 minutes to get the only goal it would need for the match, when midfielder Alfonso Motagalvan headed home an Alvarez corner kick past Aguiluchos keeper Kevin Gonzalez for a 1-0 lead.

Gonzalez had earlier saved a weak penalty from Tommy Stewart, giving the small traveling crowd hope for an upset.

Instead, the floodgates opened after Motagalvan’s goal.

In the 36th minute, Alvarez lined up on the left side of the field roughly 30 yards to goal and whipped in a free kick into the danger area of the box.

Though an Aguiluchos defender got a piece of it, the ball was never properly cleared, paving the way for Mackenzie Pridham to stab the ball home from close range.

Centerback Carlos Rodriguez, just 19-years-old and getting his first competitive minutes for the Republic, joined in on the fun in the 44th minute. The towering defender rifled a header into the back of the net off of yet another Alvarez set piece, this time a corner.

Prior to the game, Sacramento hadn’t scored a goal off of a corner kick since Sep. 13, 2014. Now they had two goals off such plays in a 20-minute period.

“It’s nice to have a couple ,” Alvarez said. “That’s something we’ve been working on. Guys are making better runs, something we’ve been working on as well. Everyone played their part in those goals. It was good to see a couple free kick goals for once. It’s been a long time.”

Stewart made up for his penalty miss in stoppage time, putting away the competitive aspect of the game with a finish off of a rebound from Gonzalez for a 4-0 lead.

Though Aguiluchos held their own for the majority of the second half, Alvarez stepped up to one final set piece in second half stoppage time to cap the night off.

From 25 yards out, the midfielder bent a left-footed free kick into the upper corner of the net to complete the 5-0 victory and send CD Aguiluchos USA home.

“To strike a football like that, into the top corner, if that was in the Premier League or La Liga, they’d be talking about that for weeks and weeks,” Buckle said.

With the victory, Sacramento improved to 5-0-0 in Open Cup play against fourth division sides, with 24 goals scored and just six allowed in those five games.

“It’s massive for us, we really do want to have a run in the Open Cup,” Buckle said. “In England, I had some wonderful times as head coach there, some incredible memories … this is my first game in the Open Cup. Five-nil is good. But my standards are very high. Our standards at the club are high. I know that in some cases tonight, we could have been a lot better.”

Leading up to the match, much of the conversation around the Internet involved the general dearth of online streams involving USL teams in the Second Round of the Open Cup.

The Republic were one such team that chose not to stream the match, so Aguiluchos chairman Roger Amaya took matters into his own hands, streaming the match live through his phone on the CD Facebook page.

However, the ability for fans of the team to actually watch the game didn’t help produce results on the field as the Oakland-based club dropped to 1-2 in all-time Open Cup play.

Evan Ream covers Sacramento Republic FC and soccer in Northern California for The Davis Enterprise. Reach him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @EvanReam

2015 US Open Cup Round 4: After Chris Wondolowski’s heroics, San Jose Earthquakes edge Sacramento Republic 6-5 in PKs (video)

June 17, 2015 by Evan Ream

The San Jose Earthquakes celebrate their 6-5 penalty kick shootout win over the Sacramento Republic. Photo: John Todd | Isiphotos | San Jose Earthquakes

UPDATE: The Round of 16 draw was conducted by the US Soccer Federation and it was determined that the San Jose Earthquakes will host the Los Angeles Galaxy in the next round.

For 74 minutes, the Republic must have thought that they had booked a ticket to the fifth round of the Open Cup.

And then Wondo happened.

Facing a two-goal deficit, the World Cup veteran snagged a brace in the final 16 minutes of the match, sending it to overtime, and eventually penalties, where the cool heads of the Earthquakes prevailed in front of an announced crowd of 13,196 at Avaya Stadium in San Jose.

Down 3-2 after four rounds of penalties, Sacramento area-native Tommy Thompson coolly dispatched his penalty for the Earthquakes to tie it up, before San Francisco Bay Area-native Emrah Klimenta saw his shot saved for the Republic to send the shootout to sudden death.

The teams traded two penalties before San Jose left back Shaun Francis dispatched his eighth round kick, and Republic left back James Kiffe skied his into the San Jose Ultras section of the crowd to give the home side the victory.

“They played a good game. They’re a good team,” said San Jose head coach Dominic Kinnear. “We knew that coming in. We showed a great amount of fight to get back into the game, and then obviously the penalties were a little bit of a 50-50 one there, but Bryan (Meredith) made a couple good saves.”

Photo: John Todd | Isiphotos | San Jose Earthquakes

The Republic came out unafraid and it was just five minutes into the game when a chipped through ball from Rodrigo Lopez found the streaking Emrah Klimenta, who controlled the ball just inside the box and was fouled by San Jose left back Shaun Francis, forcing the referee to point to the spot.

Lopez coolly stepped up and smashed the ball in the upper right corner to give Sacramento the 1-0 lead sending the roughly 700 Republic fans who made the trip down to San Jose into pandemonium.

Just nine minutes into the second half, that same combination proved lethal as Lopez drove another through ball onto the feet of Klimenta who took the ball down, and casually nutmegged the onrushing Bryan Meredith for the 2-0 lead.

In the 23rd minute, Chris Wondolowski found his way behind the Republic defense, but McLain came out and made a point-blank save to preserve the lead.

Six minutes later, a free kick from Jean-Baptiste Pierazzi found Mark Sherrod unmarked six yards from goal, but the lumbering striker could only head the ball wide.

McLain had to make another big save in the 74th minute when former Republic loanee Mike Fucito rifled a volley at the netminder who deflected the ball over the net.

McLain was finally beaten a few seconds later when a Fucito shot rebounded off him where Wondolowski was on hand to tap the ball in from close range.

Five minutes later, Wondolowski tied the game up when he made a near post run and headed a cross from Marvell Wynne into the back of the net. For Wondolowski it was his third and fourth career Open Cup goals, but it was the first time he had scored in the tournament since he was with the Houston Dynamo in 2006.

Wondolowski nearly completed a hat trick three minutes later, but his left footed shot just missed the upper corner of the net, sending the game into extra time.

“We basically threw it away at the end with a couple of plays, a couple of unfortunate plays, because the game should have been over,” said Republic head coach Preki. “We were up two nothing, but we had chances to make it three and four. But in general, I thought we played like a good team.”

FULL MATCH REPLAY: SACRAMENTO REPUBLIC AT SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES

2015 US Open Cup Round 3: Preki not happy despite Sacramento Republic’s 7-3 win over Chula Vista FC (video)

May 29, 2015 by Evan Ream

Only in Preki’s world can you score a club-record seven goals in a match and still be upset about the performance of your team.

But that was exactly the scene at Bonney Field as the Sacramento Republic FC coach bashed his team’s effort in a five-minute post game rant despite a 7-3 Third Round US Open Cup win over USASA side Chula Vista FC.

“Some moments it was good, some moments it was not good enough fore me. We scored seven goals, but to give up three goals, that’s incredibly disappointing for me,” he said. “Some of the guys aren’t working hard enough for the team and guess what’s going to happen? They’re not going to be here. I don’t really care who the names are, who they are, they don’t work hard for the team, they aren’t going to be here. Simple as that.

“The game should have been finished in the first half, four, five to zero, four, five to one, or whatever with the penalty. But I said, keep it going, things will open up, and they did. They did,” he added. “Now, this is the second time in Open Cup play this has happened to us. In the , same thing. We took a 4-1 lead and then we almost threw the game away because of silliness, because of us being casual, because now we think we’ve arrived. That’s not the way we want to do things here.”

Playing against the dangerous Chula Vista, who flattened fellow USL side Arizona United SC 3-0 in the Second Round, the Republic could not have gotten off to a better start, scoring via a rocket header from Octavio Guzman in just the 9th minute of the match off of a free kick from Max Alvarez.

Five minutes before halftime, the visitors leveled the score after a controversial foul in the box allowed Francisco Ramirez to coolly slot home a penalty.

Republic striker Adnan Gabeljic, who would end up with a hat trick, took just three minutes to respond, blasting home a 20-yard shot in the 43rd minute.

The crowd of 10,018 must have thought that it would be smooth sailing from there on out when Tommy Stewart scored his competition-leading fourth goal of the tournament seven minutes into the second half, and though Gabeljic and Zev Taublieb quickly tallied two more, the Republic were not out of the woods yet.

Just 35 seconds after taking a 5-1 lead, the Republic gave up a goal when Alberto Diaz found a streaking Joey Estrada, who chipped the ball home.

Diaz set up Mario Rubio’s 81st minute strike to pull within two goals, but the Republic pulled the lead back to four with Rodrigo Lopez’s first goal of the competition was followed by the completion of Gabeljic’s hat trick.

Chula Vista goalkeeper Sebastian Ortiz, who made several spectacular saves in the upset against Arizona, again had a good game, registering eight saves, including a save on a penalty against Lopez in the second half.

The Republic move on to play MLS affiliate San Jose Earthquakes in the Fourth Round at Avaya Stadium.

There are currently zero San Jose players on loan in Sacramento, and there haven’t been any all year.

Sacramento are now 4-0 all time in Open Cup play at home, with 19 goals scored and just six allowed.

Evan Ream covers Sacramento Republic FC for the Davis Enterprise. Reach him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @EvanReam

HIGHLIGHTS: Chula Vista at Sacremento Republic

FULL MATCH REPLAY: Chula Vista at Sacremento Republic

2015 US Open Cup Round 2: Tommy Stewart’s hat trick leads Sacramento Republic to win over Sonoma County Sol, 4-2 (video)

May 23, 2015 by Evan Ream

It was a night of firsts in California’s capital.

Sacramento Republic FC forward Tommy Stewart became the first Northern Irish player in the US Open Cup modern era to score a hat trick.

That hat trick was the first hat trick tallied in the Republic’s four-game Open Cup history.

The Republic became the first team to draw over 10,000 fans (10,386) in a Second Round game, breaking the previous record of 9,339 set by the Columbus Crew in 2001.

In the end, it was a wild 4-2 win for Sacramento over the NPSL’s Sonoma County Sol that, in classic Open Cup fashion, featured plenty of drama.

First it appeared as if the Republic would score an easy victory as Stewart scored a goal and set up another from Gabe Gonzalez in the first 12 minutes of the match.

Though Sacramento dominated the possession, the Sol pulled a goal back 14 minutes later when Sonoma forward Omar Nuno picked up a ball near the top of the box, turned and fired it into the upper 90 of Dominik Jakubek’s goal to half the deficit.

“I think this game should have been over , but we made it a little difficult for ourselves,” said Republic head coach Preki. “We got lucky in the end.”

Just as the Sol thought they were getting momentum, Stewart scored his second goal just before halftime after capitalizing on a defensive miscue set up by Republic midfielder Zev Taublieb.

Stewart scored the fourth goal – set up by Sacramento-native Cameron Iwasa – 16 minutes after the break to extend the lead, but the Sol answered right back with another banger from Nuno just 12 minutes after the break.

In the 76th minute, the Sol looked to be making a legitimate case for a comeback when Jakubek took a Sol player down in the box, leaving the referee no choice but to point to the spot.

Up stepped Taylor Varnadore, whose shot beat Jakubek, but not the post, leading to an eruption from the Tower Bridge Battalion, who were standing behind the goal that Varnadore shot on.

Holding a two-goal lead, the Republic figured to be in the next round drama free until the 87th minute, when a rough tackle from Jesus Arroyo brought down Stewart in the middle of the field.

Writhing in pain, Stewart had to be stretchered off the field due to an apparent ankle injury, and the Republic were forced to play the rest of the game with 10 men as they had already used all their subs.

“Goals will come in bunches and different places. I’m not really worried who scores them. Tommy was on the end of some goals tonight and that was good, but we still should have had more goals,” Preki said.

The Republic will host Chula Vista FC of the USASA on Wednesday at Bonney Field in a Third Round matchup.

“They’re not amateurs. They went to Arizona and beat Arizona, who’s in our league,” Preki said. “I’m expecting a tough game.”

To help cover travel costs, Chula Vista have started a GoFundMe campaign (gofundme.com/uvvs9h6e).

Full match replay: Sonoma County Sol at Sacramento Republic

2014 US Open Cup Round 4: San Jose Earthquakes begin tourney run with 2-1 win over Sacramento Republic

June 12, 2014 by Robert Jonas

The San Jose Earthquakes survived a first half goal from notorious Quakes-killer Justin Braun and netted two of their own to beat Sacramento Republic FC 2-1 in a fourth round Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup match at historic Kezar Stadium.

Khari Stephenson equalized with a first half stoppage time penalty kick, and Cordell Cato netted the game winner late in the second half to give San Jose its first Open Cup win in nearly two years.

“Cup games are always tough,” said Stephenson. “You never know how it’s going to go. We all come out here; we never want to lose. It wasn’t the best of games, but we got the win, and that is what counts.”

Cato, a menace on the wings all evening long, had narrowly missed scoring five minutes prior to his game winner, but his perseverance finally paid off in leading the Earthquakes to the next round of the tournament.

#USOC2014 LINKS

Support TheCup.us: Buy #USOC2014 gear

Notable upsets/facts about Round 4
2014 Round 5 draw scenarios
2014 Player of the Round winners

2014 US Open Cup results
2014 US Open Cup bracket
2014 US Open Cup goalscoring leaders
2015 US Open Cup qualifying news
The First Cup series (1913/14)

Twitter | Facebook | Flickr | Reddit

“We played them in preseason,” said Cato, “so we know they are a tough team. They pressed us, they worked hard, and we knew it was going to be a tough game. We kept pushing, we kept talking and letting each other know we were going to win, and it happened.”

In the last U.S. Open Cup game played at Kezar Stadium, a 2012 quarterfinal affair between San Jose and the Seattle Sounders, Cato famously scored against the Earthquakes in that 1-0 defeat. His game winner this time out made up for his Seattle goal, making amends in the eyes of head coach Mark Watson.

“We did remind him of that,” said Watson, “a couple of times. Cordell had a good memory here before with another team, and he did well for us tonight … He kept plugging away, kept working, and got better and better. He got rewarded for his efforts.”

Sacramento could not overcome the deficit, and when a second yellow card offense to Chad Bartlome dropped the USL PRO newcomers to 10 men, the Republic failed to muster up any late game magic against its Northern California MLS opponents.

“We always knew San Jose would be a tough opponent,” said Republic head coach Preki, “but our plan was to make it difficult for them and also to play our style of football. I thought we did that tonight, but there is still a lot of room for improvement.”

But upset-minded Sacramento did earn praise from Watson, who knew the Quakes affiliate would make it difficult on his side in what could be called the Republic’s biggest game of the year.

“That was the one thing we mentioned before the game,” said Watson. “You need to approach the game the right way and you need to match their energy, their work-rate, and their fight because they are going to come at you. If you take them lightly, you are going to get beat.”

The game started brightly for San Jose, as inside the first minute Stephenson tested Republic goalkeeper Dominik Jakubek with a blistering shot from long range that was parried high into the Golden Gate Park fog before being cleared from danger.

With Sacramento on its back foot, the Earthquakes continued to press forward, often with all 10 field players on the attacking side of the center line. In the fifth minute, JJ Koval tested the ‘keeper forcing a save, Atiba Harris followed up with a loose ball shot that went wanting, and Cordell Cato finished the trifecta of terrific scoring opportunities by firing wide.

Weathering the early Quakes surge, Sacramento countered over the next 15 minutes and pushed the issue on offense. San Jose nemesis Braun fired a shot on target that was deflected wide in the 29th minute, and Max Alvarez deposited his follow-up into the side netting.

The match settled into a back-and-forth affair as the clock pushed toward intermission — until out of little, the Republic opened the scoring. A pass from Rodrigo Lopez into the left corner found a wide open Chad Bartlome with space to whip a cross into the six-yard box. Beating his defender to the ball, Braun glanced a header inside the near post that eluded goalkeeper David Bingham and bulged the back of the net for a 1-0 lead. It was Braun’s second goal of the tournament, and the fourth of his career.

Sacramento Republic fans made the trip to San Francisco for the game. Photo: Twitter @AmericanCasual1

The goal seemed to unnerve the Earthquakes, and on the restart, the home side poured forward toward the Pacific end of Kezar. A corner kick in the 44th minute by San Jose was hammered home by Clarence Goodson with a thundering header, but the goal was waved off. Not for a foul on the Quakes, but instead for a foul by Bartlome, which was egregious enough to earn a yellow card.

Confusion reigned, as referee Juan Guzman, surrounded by a perplexed phalanx of blue and white, pointed to the spot. Lopez, among many to express his frustration, earned a yellow card for his outburst. And in the first minute of stoppage time, Stephenson drilled a hard shot into the upper right corner of the goal to level that score a 1-1 with his third career tournament goal.

The second half was all Sacramento through the 60th minute, but Bingham and the defense did enough to deny the visitors. In the 67th minute, after disposing Shaun Francis inside the area, Bartlome turned and blasted a shot that a sliding Ty Harden deflected inches over the crossbar.

The Earthquakes made the first substitution of the game as Jean-Baptiste Pierazzi entered for Koval in the 68th minute. In that same sequence, an excellent give-and-go between Steven Lenhart and Cato freed the young winger to fire on target, but Jakubek made the save of the night with his trailing leg.

Five minutes later, Cato would get the better of Jakubek, as a ball in the area deflected off a defender and fell to the Trinidadian. Having learned from his earlier attempt, Cato directed his shot through the ‘keeper’s legs and into the goal for a 2-1 Earthquakes lead — the very same goal mouth that he scored into two years ago for the Seattle Sounders in an Open Cup Quarterfinal.

The Republic would not yield, and in the 76th minute nearly equalized on a corner kick attempt that was flicked wide by Emrah Klimenta. But their comeback attempt seemed to fizzle when Bartlome was shown a second caution for dissent in the 78th, earning an early trip to the locker room and dibs on the limited Kezar Stadium hot water supply.

San Jose settled into a more defensive formation, happy to counter on the exposed Republic, but little troubled along the back line. In the 88th minute, Lenhart collected a clearance along the left sideline, and after cutting inside, rocketed a shot toward goal that skimmed the outside of the post.

Sacramento chased the game past regulation and into two minutes of stoppage time, but it was not enough, and the Earthquakes held on for a 2-1 victory against their USL PRO affiliate.

Robert Jonas writes for Center Line Soccer. You can follow him on Twitter @RobertJonas or @CtrLineSoccer

2014 US Open Cup Round 3: Sacramento Republic dominate shorthanded Fresno Fuego, 6-0 (video)

May 29, 2014 by Evan Ream

Despite the game being their third in three different cities in six days, Sacramento Republic FC managed to post the largest margin of victory so far in the 2014 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup with a 6-0 win over Fresno Fuego Wednesday night at Cosumnes River College.
Nermanja Vuković, Justin Braun, Thomas Stewart, Rodrigo Lopez, Emrah Klimenta and Steven Evans all scored to set up a Fourth Round meeting with the San Jose Earthquakes, one of Sacramento’s two MLS affiliates.

“It feels great. I hope the team gets to realize that we’re a good team,” Lopez said, “We’re a very deep team as well. I think we can go pretty far.”

After arriving back at home late Tuesday night due to weather delays from their two-game road trip where they picked up wins in Rochester and Dayton, the Republic started the match out slowly, nearly giving up a goal in the fifth minute only to be saved by a goal-line clearance from defender Harrison Delbridge.

Former Chivas USA draft pick Paul Islas beat two defenders down the left side of the field, and cut the ball back to Jose Cuevas who opened up and side-footed the ball to the far post where the hulking Australian Delbridge was able to deflect the shot out of the penalty area.

The teams traded quality opportunities until Fuego defender Alfred Edmonds was sent off in the 41st minute for his second yellow card, giving Sacramento a man advantage.

Sacramento quickly pounced just four minutes later as some extended possession saw midfielder Octavio Guzman pick out an overlapping run from left back Nermanja Vuković who received the ball 12 yards out in the left side of the box and rifled a left-footed rocket into the roof of the net for the eventual winning goal of the match.

“Nermanja was wide open, it was easy to do,” Guzman said. “I’m really excited. I’m looking forward to test ourselves against an MLS team.”

Shortly after the break, Guzman won the ball at the midfield stripe to set up a three-on-one situation where Justin Braun played Thomas Stewart through onto goal. Stewart cut the ball back, drew the Fuego keeper off his line and returned the ball to Braun, who was able to tap it in from close range to essentially seal the win and a June 11 game against San Jose at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco.

The next four goals came in a flurry in which Fuego goalkeeper Francisco Hernandez was forced to make a variety of highlight-reel saves to keep the score as close as it was.

Stewart scored eight minutes after Braun on an assist from Lopez, and then 15 minutes after that, the diminutive playmaker brought the house down with a spectacular effort. Picking the ball up 30-yards from goal, Lopez slalomed between two defenders and then pushed the ball past a third while running around the other side of the helpless defender. He then took a touch to his right and chipped the ball over the onrushing Hernandez, sending the crowd of 1,523 into pandemonium.

“I don’t know where I got it from,” the halftime substitute said in disbelief. “I didn’t know I had the legs to do it.”

Emrah Klimenta and Steven Evans each scored to cap off the blowout that wasn’t done with the controversy.

Republic midfielder Ivan Mirković fouled a Fuego player in the box in stoppage time of the game to receive his second yellow card of the game which set up a penalty for Fuego.

Mirković was given a standing ovation as he exited the field and goalkeeper Jakubek dove to his right to stone Jose Cuevas and then to his right to deny Cuevas again on the follow up as the referee blew for full time.

“We expect to win, you never really contemplate what the score is going to be,” said Rod Underwood, Sacramento’s acting manager while head coach Preki finished serving the second game of a two-game suspension in the Open Cup. “We just expect to win.”

HIGHLIGHTS