The Lights and Sacramento battled it out in an intense Western Conference showdown at Cashman Field, with both sides earning a valuable point
Las Vegas Lights FC drew 1-1 against Sacramento Republic FC on Saturday night.
It was an even matchup at Cashman Field, with both teams going all in for the three points.
The Lights took the lead in the 20th minute, when Aaron Guillen’s powerful shot from outside the box slid past Sacramento goalkeeper Danny Vitiello’s grip and kissed the net.
The Republic equalized ten minutes later thanks to midfielder Mark-Anthony Kaye’s unorthodox resourcefulness in front of goal. His deflected shot redirected into Charlie Lanphier’s goal to make things level.
The rest of the match was intense, with both sides constantly creating goalscoring opportunities and holding intense, physical duels across the pitch. The stats don’t lie: the game could’ve gone either way. Both teams kept identical possession (50%) and took the same amount of shots (9).
In the end, the match ended in a deadlock and both sides took a point back home.
For full video highlights of the match, head to the club’s official YouTube page to watch now.
What They’re Saying
DEFENDER AARON GUILLEN
On what he thinks about the team’s effort on both ends tonight…
I think we played a hard team. Obviously, I think we should’ve left the game with three points. The effort was there. I think we outworked them and, unfortunately, we didn’t get the the result. But I think we’re growing as a team, and it looks like we’re getting better each week.
On what he can tell Las Vegas about this new group of players…
It’s a team that wants to work. We want to turn things around and have success. It’s a very young group, a group that’s hungry, and we want to keep growing and getting better every day. We wanna bring a Championship to the city.
HEAD COACH DEVIN RENSING
On what he can say about the team’s fight on both ends tonight…
I challenged my guys to make sure that we defend our stadium, our field, our city, and we did that tonight. The guys fought hard. They fought all the way towards the end. Sacramento cleared a ball off the line, so a little bit unfortunate at that late goal, but I’m really proud of the effort.
On the team’s strong start out of the gate…
We started slow a couple of times this year, and that was a challenge to them as well. But the guys rose up to that challenge of starting strong, being tough, and exerting our dominance on them, and I think we did that.
On how he sees his team getting better…
We’re getting better structurally, defensively. We’re letting up some soft goals early, and I think that we’ve gotten better and better at that, and if you get those things right defensively, you can start to grow as a team offensively.
Summary
Lights Starting XI:
Lanphier (GK), Smart, Jones, Guillen, Antonoglou, Probo, Okyere (Mines, 81′), Ybarra, Pinzon (C) (Locker, 89′), Rodriguez, Arteaga (Leal, 69′)
Sacramento Republic FC Starting XI:
Vitiello (GK), Essel (Ukaegbu, 70′), Kleemann, Desmond (C) , Benitez, Crisostomo, Kaye (Spaulding, 46′), Rodriguez (Cambridge, 81′), Willey, Wanner (Malango, 70′), Edwards (Ajago, 63′)
Goals:
LV – Guillen (assist: Smart) – 20′
SAC – Kaye (assist: Edwards) – 30’
Discipline:
SAC – Yellow, Essel – 36’
SAC – Yellow, Kleemann – 43’
LV – Yellow, Jones – 61’
SAC – Yellow, Rodriguez – 75’
SAC – Yellow, Malango – 77’
LV – Yellow, Guillen – 90+1’
Next Up
The Lights will return to action on Wednesday, April 22 when they travel to California to face Western Conference rivals Oakland Roots SC at the historic Oakland Coliseum.
Las Vegas will then host Athletic Club Boise in their Prinx Tires USL Cup debut on Saturday, April 25. Tickets are available now!
