Coming off a grueling week, Republic FC came out with fire against Loudoun United and never let off. The club posted its largest victory of the season in league play on Saturday – pressuring the visitors all evening to net four scores. A pair of players netted their first goals in Old Glory Red while the club tallied yet another clean sheet defensively.
No Hangover Here
With a long flight home following the Open Cup Final earlier in the week, Republic FC was left with just one day to prepare for their Eastern Conference foes. With the emotionally draining nature of Final matches and that kind of travel and turnaround, many would look past the match – but Sacramento didn’t. Instead, they got right to work pressuring Loudoun on all fronts. The Virginia side was kept without a shot on target all night – the 20th time a club has been kept off frame league-wide this season – and without a score for Sacramento’s 9th clean sheet of the year.
“Obviously it was disappointing on Wednesday,” said Jack Gurr after the match. “We knew we had to come back and get a reaction and focus on the league now, and I think 4-0 tells you exactly what the mentality is.”
Gurr Gets One
All season long, Jack Gurr has been on the hunt for a score from the right side. The Englishman had yet to find the net entering Saturday despite being one of the club’s top chance creators – many of his opportunities had either met the woodwork, opposing defenders or gone wide of the target by mere inches.
While pushing high in the second half, he took a lateral pass from Emil Cuello and was left with two options – go inside and shoot, or go outside and serve. He took the former and snuck it just inside the right post with his left foot for his first goal of the season, and the second of his pro career. Heart Health Park erupted – not just because the score sealed the match – but because they could finally cheer for one of their club’s oft-unsung offensive engines.
Lay It On
After not finding the net in the first half despite a constant presence in the attacking third, many clubs may enter halftime a tad discouraged. Mark Briggs’ message during the break, however, was simple. Keep it up. Sacramento did just that in the second half and was rewarded for their efforts almost immediately. Even after Deshorn Brown broke the ice in the 48th minute, the Quails never wavered. The club kept pushing, focusing, and demanding more of their teammates regardless of the situation, leading to their largest margin of victory in a league match since defeating Portland Timbers 2 4-0 in 2020.
“That’s what it takes right,” said Mark Briggs. “You’ve got to have standards and you’ve got to continue to meet those standards, no matter what the score.”
