Match Recap: Republic FC 1 - 2 Saint Louis FC

ST. LOUIS, Mo. (August 15, 2018) — Sacramento Republic FC was unable to bounce back from two goals against in the opening ten minutes as they fell 2-1 to Saint Louis FC on the road on Wednesday night.

A defensive lapse in the fifth minute from the Sacramento back line gifted Saint Louis the opener before either side had settled into the match. Mitchell Taintor went to chase down a long ball on the left wing, and without turning, sent an errant backward pass across the face of goal into the path of Saint Louis’ Corey Hertzog. The striker took a touch to lose Cole Seiler’s mark before rifling home a left-footed shot past an outstretched Josh Cohen.

Just two minutes later, the home side doubled their lead off a corner kick. Lewis Hilton played a short pass before crossing toward the near post where an onrushing Kyle Greig lost Taintor’s mark to head home Saint Louis’ second of the night in the seventh minute.

Visibly shell-shocked, Republic FC struggled to piece together scoring opportunities, but did have a chance to cut the deficit in the 31st minute through Cameron Iwasa. The Sacramento native dribbled up the pitch to the edge of the 18-yard-box before firing a long-range effort that forced a diving save from Jake Fenlason.

Jaime Villarreal, who entered the match in the second half, put Republic FC back into the game within minutes of his introduction. Adam Moffat sent a long ball to the far post where Jure Matjasic headed across goal to an onrushing Villarreal. With one touch, the former LA Galaxy player tapped home his first goal of the season to make it 2-1 in the 67th minute.

Iwasa forced another save from Fenlason with a quarter-hour to play, firing an angled shot at his near post, but the home keeper did well to come off his line and parry away Iwasa’s effort.

Republic FC continued to push forward but was unable to find the equalizer. The loss ended the club’s six-game unbeaten run and keeps the club in third place in the Western Conference with 43 points ahead of their Saturday matchup against LA Galaxy II.

Iwasa forced another save from Fenlason with a quarter-hour to play, firing an angled shot at his near post, but the home keeper did well to come off his line and parry away Iwasa’s effort.

Saint Louis FC 2:1 Sacramento Republic FC
USL Match
Toyota Stadium – St. Louis, MO
August 15, 2018 – Attendance: 3,127

Scoring Summary: STL – Corey Hertzog 5, Kyle Greig (Lewis Hilton) 7; SAC – Jaime Villarreal (Jure Matjasic) 67.

Misconduct Summary: STL – Phanuel Kavita (caution) 62, Sean Reynolds (caution) 69, Kyle Culbertson (caution) 90+1; SAC – Mitchell Taintor (caution) 90.

Sacramento Republic FC – Josh Cohen, Elliott Hord, Cole Seiler (Christian Eissele 80), Mitchell Taintor, Shannon Gomez; Adam Moffat, Jeremy Hall, Wilson Kneeshaw (Jaime Villarreal 63), Keven Aleman (Luis Espino 63), Jure Matjasic, Cameron Iwasa.

Subs Not Used: Thomas Olsen, Justin Schmidt, Roberto Hategan, Quincy Butler. .

Stats: Shots: 15, Shots on Goal: 6, Saves: 5, Fouls: 15, Corner Kicks: 6, Offside: 3.

Saint Louis FC – Jake Fenlason, Phanuel Kavita, Sam Fink, Joey Calistri, Kyle Culbertson, Sean Reynolds, Lewis Hilton (Austin Ledbette 90), Wal Fall, Kadeem Dacres, Kyle Greig (Albert Dikwa 72), Corey Hertzog (Michael Cox 78).

Subs Not Used: Tomas Gomez, Audi Jepson, Tyler Polak.

Stats: Shots: 14, Shots on Goal: 7, Saves: 5, Fouls: 8, Corner Kicks: 2, Offside: 1.