Republic FC look to bounce back to their winning ways after a narrow loss against Portland Timbers 2 last Sunday, while Saint Louis FC hopes to snatch valuable road points.
Ahead of Saturday’s match, get to know Republic FC’s opponent, Saint Louis FC.
HEAD COACH
Saint Louis FC are led by Head Coach Dale Schilly. With a coaching career spanning 30 years, Schilly joined Saint Louis FC prior to the start of the club’s inaugural season in 2015. The Saint Louis native has a vast background in youth development, having served as a Region 2 Olympic Development Program Head Coach at the U-14 level. He also concurrently serves as Director of Youth Program Development for the St. Louis Scott Gallagher-Illinois youth soccer club.
As a player, Schilly won the NCAA Men’s Division II Soccer Championship with Florida International University in 1982.
KEY PLAYERS
Defender James Musa returns to anchor Saint Louis FC’s backline again. The 24-year-old defender had 24 starts out of 24 appearances and two goals in 2015. This season, Musa already has one goal from five appearances, playing 90 minutes in each one. The New Zealander has represented his country, both on the youth and senior level. In 2012, Musa was part of the New Zealand Olympic team during London Olympics, making one appearance.
Anchoring the backline alongside Musa is defender AJ Cochran. The 2014 MLS SuperDraft first round pick (16th overall) joined Saint Louis FC after parting ways with MLS club Houston Dynamo last December. He made 26 appearances and 19 starts across two seasons while at Houston Dynamo. Since arriving back in his hometown of Saint Louis, Cochran has been a main in the Saint Louis FC backline and has played the full 90 minutes in all five of Saint Louis FC’s 2016 USL matches.
Up front, forward/midfielder Vince Cicciarelli has made the most of his 164 minutes on the pitch this season with Saint Louis FC, scoring three goals in three appearances. He was named the USL Player of the Week when he scored his two first professional goals in Saint Louis FC’s 3-1 win against Orange County Blues in Week 2. He also made the USL Team of the Week for his goal against Oklahoma City Energy the following week.
RECENT TRANSACTIONS
Ahead of the 2016 season, Saint Louis FC signed Welsh midfielder Chad Bond, a familiar name for Republic FC fans. Bond spent part of the 2014 season with Republic FC before moving on to Tulsa Roughnecks FC for their inaugural USL season in 2015. Bond is currently the Saint Louis FC captain and has one assist on record with the club.
Saint Louis FC also signed Jamaica national player Ryan Thompson in March. In 2011, Thompson made seven appearances for the Shamrock Rovers—former club of Republic FC players Derek Foran and Thomas Stewart—in the League of Ireland Premier Division. He made history as the first Jamaican international to play in the Champions League when he suited up with the Rovers against FC Copenhagen. Thompson has made one appearance so far with Saint Louis FC during the club’s 3-1 win against Orange County Blues FC.
Midfielder Schillo Tshuma was acquired from the Portland Timbers just right before the start of the 2016 season. Tshuma was a first round draft pick (17th overall) in the 2014 MLS SuperDraft. The Timbers loaned Tshuma to Arizona United SC in 2014 season (17 appearances) and then later to their own USL club, Timbers 2 (10 appearances). He played at the University of Maryland, where he had 16 goals and 3 assists in 49 appearances and helped Maryland reach the NCAA 2013 College Cup final against the University of Notre Dame.
MLS AFFILIATE
In January, Saint Louis FC renewed their MLS affiliation agreement with the Chicago Fire for the 2016 USL season. Defender Patrick Dood is back on loan from the Chicago Fire, having already spent the majority of the 2015 USL season with Saint Louis FC.
The club also received Drew Conner on loan from Chicago Fire after the 22-year-old midfielder signed a homegrown player contract with the MLS side in December 2015.
ATTENDANCE
Saint Louis FC will be playing all of their home matches this season at Marshall Wireless Stadium inside of World Wide Technology Soccer Park. For their 2016 home opener, Saint Louis FC sold out the 5,280-person capacity stadium. In 2015, the average Saint Louis FC attendance was 4,885 fans per match.
2015 SEASON RECAP
One of 10 expansion franchises in 2015, Saint Louis FC held a record of 2-2-1 in five matches in the Eastern Conference at this point last season. Their first match was a 2-0 loss against Louisville City FC, but the club bounced back and beat Tulsa Roughnecks FC in their following match.
However, the rest of the season proved to be rocky for Saint Louis FC, ending with a record of 8-11-9. Saint Louis FC finished ninth in the Eastern Conference, eight points out of the last playoff spot.
Due to the conference split, Saint Louis FC and Republic FC never faced off in 2015. Saturday’s match will be the first meeting between the two sides.
2016 SEASON SO FAR
Saint Louis FC currently sits in 9th place in the USL Western Conference, with five points in as many matches. The Western Conference newbies kicked off their season with four consecutive road matches before their Apr. 16 home opener.
After racking up two losses, Saint Louis FC snatched their first three points of the season at Orange County Blues FC with a 3-1 win, before tying 2-2 against OKC Energy. Saint Louis FC were held to a goalless draw against Tulsa Roughnecks FC in their last match, which was their home opener.
SATURDAY’S MATCH
The match is this Saturday, Apr. 23, at Bonney Field. Kickoff is 7:30 p.m. It will be broadcast on CW31 and Sports 1140 KHTK and will be live streamed at www.sacrepublicfc.com/matchday. Tickets are available for purchase at Ticketmaster.com. Fans can also follow live updates on Twitter @SacRepublicFC or by using the hashtag #SACvsSTL.
Republic FC look to bounce back to their winning ways after a narrow loss against Portland Timbers 2 last Sunday, while Saint Louis FC hopes to snatch valuable road points.
Ahead of Saturday’s match, get to know Republic FC’s opponent, Saint Louis FC.
HEAD COACHSaint Louis FC are led by Head Coach Dale Schilly. With a coaching career spanning 30 years, Schilly joined Saint Louis FC prior to the start of the club’s inaugural season in 2015. The Saint Louis native has a vast background in youth development, having served as a Region 2 Olympic Development Program Head Coach at the U-14 level. He also concurrently serves as Director of Youth Program Development for the St. Louis Scott Gallagher-Illinois youth soccer club.
As a player, Schilly won the NCAA Men’s Division II Soccer Championship with Florida International University in 1982.
KEY PLAYERS
Defender James Musa returns to anchor Saint Louis FC’s backline again. The 24-year-old defender had 24 starts out of 24 appearances and two goals in 2015. This season, Musa already has one goal from five appearances, playing 90 minutes in each one. The New Zealander has represented his country, both on the youth and senior level. In 2012, Musa was part of the New Zealand Olympic team during London Olympics, making one appearance.
Anchoring the backline alongside Musa is defender AJ Cochran. The 2014 MLS SuperDraft first round pick (16th overall) joined Saint Louis FC after parting ways with MLS club Houston Dynamo last December. He made 26 appearances and 19 starts across two seasons while at Houston Dynamo. Since arriving back in his hometown of Saint Louis, Cochran has been a main in the Saint Louis FC backline and has played the full 90 minutes in all five of Saint Louis FC’s 2016 USL matches.
Up front, forward/midfielder Vince Cicciarelli has made the most of his 164 minutes on the pitch this season with Saint Louis FC, scoring three goals in three appearances. He was named the USL Player of the Week when he scored his two first professional goals in Saint Louis FC’s 3-1 win against Orange County Blues in Week 2. He also made the USL Team of the Week for his goal against Oklahoma City Energy the following week.
RECENT TRANSACTIONSAhead of the 2016 season, Saint Louis FC signed Welsh midfielder Chad Bond, a familiar name for Republic FC fans. Bond spent part of the 2014 season with Republic FC before moving on to Tulsa Roughnecks FC for their inaugural USL season in 2015. Bond is currently the Saint Louis FC captain and has one assist on record with the club.
Saint Louis FC also signed Jamaica national player Ryan Thompson in March. In 2011, Thompson made seven appearances for the Shamrock Rovers—former club of Republic FC players Derek Foran and Thomas Stewart—in the League of Ireland Premier Division. He made history as the first Jamaican international to play in the Champions League when he suited up with the Rovers against FC Copenhagen. Thompson has made one appearance so far with Saint Louis FC during the club’s 3-1 win against Orange County Blues FC.
Midfielder Schillo Tshuma was acquired from the Portland Timbers just right before the start of the 2016 season. Tshuma was a first round draft pick (17th overall) in the 2014 MLS SuperDraft. The Timbers loaned Tshuma to Arizona United SC in 2014 season (17 appearances) and then later to their own USL club, Timbers 2 (10 appearances). He played at the University of Maryland, where he had 16 goals and 3 assists in 49 appearances and helped Maryland reach the NCAA 2013 College Cup final against the University of Notre Dame.
MLS AFFILIATE
In January, Saint Louis FC renewed their MLS affiliation agreement with the Chicago Fire for the 2016 USL season. Defender Patrick Dood is back on loan from the Chicago Fire, having already spent the majority of the 2015 USL season with Saint Louis FC.
The club also received Drew Conner on loan from Chicago Fire after the 22-year-old midfielder signed a homegrown player contract with the MLS side in December 2015.
ATTENDANCE
Saint Louis FC will be playing all of their home matches this season at Marshall Wireless Stadium inside of World Wide Technology Soccer Park. For their 2016 home opener, Saint Louis FC sold out the 5,280-person capacity stadium. In 2015, the average Saint Louis FC attendance was 4,885 fans per match.
2015 SEASON RECAP
One of 10 expansion franchises in 2015, Saint Louis FC held a record of 2-2-1 in five matches in the Eastern Conference at this point last season. Their first match was a 2-0 loss against Louisville City FC, but the club bounced back and beat Tulsa Roughnecks FC in their following match.
However, the rest of the season proved to be rocky for Saint Louis FC, ending with a record of 8-11-9. Saint Louis FC finished ninth in the Eastern Conference, eight points out of the last playoff spot.
Due to the conference split, Saint Louis FC and Republic FC never faced off in 2015. Saturday’s match will be the first meeting between the two sides.
2016 SEASON SO FARSaint Louis FC currently sits in 9th place in the USL Western Conference, with five points in as many matches. The Western Conference newbies kicked off their season with four consecutive road matches before their Apr. 16 home opener.
After racking up two losses, Saint Louis FC snatched their first three points of the season at Orange County Blues FC with a 3-1 win, before tying 2-2 against OKC Energy. Saint Louis FC were held to a goalless draw against Tulsa Roughnecks FC in their last match, which was their home opener.
SATURDAY’S MATCH
The match is this Saturday, Apr. 23, at Bonney Field. Kickoff is 7:30 p.m. It will be broadcast on CW31 and Sports 1140 KHTK and will be live streamed at www.sacrepublicfc.com/matchday. Tickets are available for purchase at Ticketmaster.com. Fans can also follow live updates on Twitter @SacRepublicFC or by using the hashtag #SACvsSTL.
