Arizona United SC drops match against Sacramento Republic FC

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (June 13, 2015) — Outstanding goalkeeping from Carl Woszczynski and an early goal from forward Long Tan was not enough as Arizona United SC suffered a 2-1 loss to the defending USL champions the Sacramento Republic FC in front of more than 3,000 fans at Scottsdale Stadium. The loss drops Arizona United SC to 4-6-1 on the season.

“We came out and did what we wanted to do,” said Arizona United SC head coach Michael Dellorusso. “We played the way we wanted to play. We got a well-deserved goal, and we made it a very hard for a very good team. You see why they won the league last year, they had players that came out and made plays.”

Arizona United SC drew first blood less than 10 minutes into the match. After a failed corner, kicked out of the penalty area, midfielder Danny Garcia collected the ball near the top-right corner of the box and fired a perfectly placed ball toward the far left post of the net. Tan found the pass, and headed it home for the match’s opening goal.

Neither team challenged the keepers much until the 32nd minute, when Sacramento’s Thomas Stewart had a 1-on-1 opportunity against Woszczynski. But the big keeper came off his line and made a huge kick save to send Stewart’s shot wide of the net. Tan had another scoring opportunity in the 36th minute, but Sacramento Republic FC goalkeeper Patrick McLain denied the header to keep the match 1-0.

Woszczynski kept the match 1-0 in the 60th minute, denying Stewart for a second time in the match with a big save. Arizona United SC nearly added to its lead in the 70th minute when a clever flick from Tan freed Brad Stisser along the left side of the penalty area. Stiffer drove into the box and fired a shot at McLain and the keeper stood strong and denied the opportunity.

“They had their chances, but we had our chances,” Woszczynski said. “I thought it was a pretty even game.” Added Woszczynski: “It was disappointing. I hate to say this every week but I felt we played well, we had the lead for 75 minutes. So, hopefully we can rebound from this and take some positives from it.”

Sacramento Republic FC tied the game in the 77th minute thanks to a goal from Augustin Cazarez. Recently subbed Gabe Gisse received the ball to the right of the penalty area, and got around his defender enough to send a low and hard cross into the box. Cazarez easily directed the ball into the net past a helpless Woszczynski to make it 1-1.

Soon after, McLain came up big again for Sacramento Republic FC, making back-to-back saves in succession, first denying forward Jon Top and then Tan on the follow up to keep the match tied at one in the 80th minute. Sacramento Republic FC took advantage of the extra life and midfielder Danny Barrera notched the game winner in the 84th minute after an impressive buildup from Sacramento.

Up next for Arizona United SC is the Seattle Sounders FC 2 on Saturday, June 20 at Scottsdale Stadium with kickoff scheduled for 7:30 p.m.. Tickets start at just $15 and are available at arizonaunited.com/tickets. 

For additional ticketing information, including season tickets and mini-game plans, contact the Arizona United SC front office by calling 623-594-9606 or email at info@arizonaunited.com. Additionally, all Arizona United SC home matches include free parking.

For more information on Arizona United Soccer Club, follow the team on Facebook www.facebook.com/ArizonaUnitedSoccer,  Twitter @AZUnitedSC and Instagram @AZUnitedSC.

-Arizona United Soccer Club Match Report-

Match: Arizona United Soccer Club vs Sacramento Republic FC
Date: June 13, 2015
Competition: USL
Venue: Scottsdale Stadium
Kickoff: 7:30 p.m. PT
Weather: Clear
Attendance: 3,318

Scoring Summary:
AZ – Long Tan (assist: Danny Garcia) – 9th minute
SA – Agustin Cazarez (assist: Gabe Gissie) – 76th minute
SA – Danny Barrera (assist: Emrah Klimenta) – 83rd minute

Misconduct Summary:
AZ – Danny Garcia (caution) – 43th minute

Lineups:

Arizona United SC: Carl Woszczynski, Tyler Ruthven (Damian Rosales 83′), Brock Granger, Rob Valentino, George Malki, Scott Morrison, Milton Blanco (Jordan Rideout 86′), Danny Garcia (Jonathan Top 46′), Robbie Derschang (Brad Stisser 61′) , Long Tan, Dennis Chin (Chiva 81′)

Substitutions not used: Zak Downes, Daniel Antunez