Oakland battled for all ninety minutes Saturday night in the East Bay, but it was visiting NorCal rivals Sacramento Republic FC that would leave Pioneer Stadium victorious, securing a 1-0 win at the end of regulation time.
Sacramento took an early lead in the match when awarded a penalty kick only three minutes into the contest. Roots keeper Paul Blanchette chose the correct side on the try, but the shot just snuck past his save attempt, giving the visiting side a 1-0 lead they would bring with them to the final whistle.
Scoring chances were plentiful for both sides throughout the match, but Roots simply couldn’t find a finish.
At the tail end of play Oakland turned up the heat in a last ditch effort to find an equalizer, but their hopes fell short at the final whistle, and Sacramento left the pitch with all three points.
Roots will look to get back in the win column next Saturday at 7:30 PM as they head to Sin City for a matchup with Las Vegas Lights FC before returning to the East Bay for three straight home games.
Speaking with Head Coach Noah Delgado
That’s a tough loss. It seems you guys were on the front foot for most of the game. What do you make of it?
Yeah it’s hard. You know, a minute into the game a PK given away from the goal. But that’s part of what we deal with week in and week out. I thought the boys showed tons of character, heart, and tactical awareness and created chances to get back in the game and get a goal — and unfortunately we just didn’t get one in.
Talk about the atmosphere here. Big crowd, you’ve got your archrival. And then the intensity and the effort in the second half.
Yeah, I’m very pleased with the boys. To go down in the first minute, there’s different ways you can react to it. But they knew they were gonna fight and they were fighting to the last second. I thought throughout the whole game with all the extra time and all the work that the boys really showed care. The result was not what we wanted, but I think this will actually help us as we move forward into other games and into the playoffs.
Oakland Roots SC vs Sacramento Republic FC
USL Championship | September 2, 2023
Venue: Cal State University, East Bay, Hayward, California
Kickoff: 7:00 PM PT
Weather: 66 degrees, mostly cloudy
SCORELINE:
OAK: 0
SAC: 1
SCORING SUMMARY:
SAC: 3’ Sebastian Herrera
DISCIPLINE SUMMARY:
OAK: 33’ Napo Matsoso (yellow card)
SAC: 45’+ Matt LaGrassa (yellow card)
SAC: 67’ Arnold Lopez (yellow card)
OAKLAND ROOTS LINEUP: Paul Blanchette, Danny Barbir, Neveal Hackshaw, Emrah Klimenta, Tarek Morad (Irakoze Donasiyano), Napo Matsoso, Memo Diaz, Bryan Tamacas (Trayvone Reid), Lindo Mfeka, Jeciel Cedeño, Johnny Rodriguez (Anuar Peláez)
Unused subs: Ryan Her, Wolfgang Prentice, Kieran Bracken Serra, Tim Syrel
Shots: 15 | Shots On Goal: 6 | Corner Kicks: 11 | Fouls: 11 | Offside: 1 |
SACRAMENTO REPUBLIC FC LINEUP: Carlos Saldaña, Shane Weidt, Conor Donovan, Lee Desmond (Jared Timmer), Jack Gurr, Damia Viader, Arnold Lopez (Nick Ross), Matt LaGrassa (Luis Felipe Rodrigues), Sergio “Keko” Gontan (Rodrigo Lopez), Russell Cicerone, Sebastian Herrera (Zeiko Lewis)
Unused subs: Danny Vitiello, Cristian Parano
Shots: 7 | Shots On Goal: 3| Corner Kicks: 2| Fouls: 17| Offside: 2|
