Indomitable City Soccer is taking a look back at the 2015 Sacramento Republic FC season one player at a time. Last time we took a look at Rodrigo Lopez’s final season. Today we look back on Thomas Stewart’s 2015 campaign.
2015 Review
Thomas Stewart had a disappointing 2015 season with Sacramento Republic FC, particularly when compared to how things went for him in the team’s inaugural season. In 2014 he was Sacramento’s leading goalscorer with 11 goals in league play. In 2015 he found the back of the net only a handful of times, finishing the year with only 3 league goals.
Part of Stewart’s difficulty can be attributed to his rough start to the year. He missed the first 6 games of the season due to injury, sitting on the sidelines while the strike partnership between Justin Braun and David Estrada solidified.
When Stewart did start to get playing time it was mostly off the bench, beginning with a 16 minute shift in a 2-1 home loss to the Orange County Blues. Of the 8 matches he appeared in for Sacramento while Preki was Head Coach, he started only 3 and played an average of 32.5 minutes per game. Such a low rate of starts was consistent with how Preki generally utilized him, more as a super-sub than starter.
That changed once current Republic FC Head Coach Paul Buckle came in, though. Under Buckle, Stewart went immediately from the bench to the starting XI. He appeared in each of the Republic’s 10 league and playoff matches under Buckle, starting all but 1 and playing an average of 74.3 minutes per game.
Initially it seemed as though Buckle’s faith in Stewart was going to be immediately rewarded with the kind of scoring form that the striker had in 2014, with 3 goals in his first 3 Buckle-led games. Unfortunately for both Stewart and the team as a whole, the goals stopped there. While he was still getting into good spots to score, the ball was not going in the net.
By The Numbers
Here are a few fun facts about Thomas Stewart’s season put together by our own Evan Eyster (on twitter @IronPonyChef).
Minutes per game: 56.8 (55.6 in 2014)
Goals per game: 0.18 (0.55 in 2014)
Minutes per goal: 322 (101 in 2014)
Percent of Games Scoring: 12% (40% in 2014)
Best Game
Although no single performance from Stewart will likely ever match his 29 minute hat-trick against Orange County in 2014, his best performance of 2015 was undoubtedly his August 1st brace against Seattle Sounders 2 in Buckle’s first match as Head Coach.
Although the goals would dry up later on in the season for both Stewart and the Republic, that match against S2 stands out as a high point for both player and team.
The honorable mention for Stewart’s best game is the 3-3 draw away at Colorado Springs Switchbacks, if only for this absolutely fantastic strike (Streamable made by the also absolutely fantastic vanillacokeee).
2016 Outlook
If the end of the 2015 season is anything to go off of, it would appear that Stewart is definitely in Paul Buckle’s plans for next season. While there are obviously no guaranteed spots in the starting XI, it seems as though Buckle certainly holds Stewart’s goalscoring ability in high regard. It would appear that - barring any sort of earth-shattering forward signing - the job of Justin Braun’s strike partner is Stewart’s to lose.
Just like Braun, the main area we would like to see Stewart improve upon next season is his goal scoring. Putting the ball in the back of the net is his primary job, especially since he functions more as a pure goalscorer than Braun, and his production in this past season simply was not good enough.
We know Stewart can score goals at USL level. He proved it to us in 2014 when he led the team with 11 goals. In order for the Republic to succeed next season, he’ll need to reach that level of production once again.
Have any thoughts of your own on Thomas Stewart’s 2015 season? Or perhaps you have something else you’d like to see from him in 2016? Let us know in the comments below.
Connect with Indomitable City Soccer on Twitter and Facebook to stay up to date on the latest Sacramento Republic FC news.
