Indomitable City Soccer is taking a look back at the 2015 Sacramento Republic FC season one player at a time. Last time we looked at Octavio Guzman’s season, today we look back on rookie Cameron Iwasa’s 2015 campaign.
2015 Review
Born in Sacramento and a graduate of Jesuit High School, Cameron Iwasa is probably the Sacramento Republic player who most accurately fits the “local” label - his time with UC Irvine notwithstanding.
Prior to finding his way to Sacramento for his rookie season, Iwasa spent most of preseason with a pair of MLS teams. The first was the Montreal Impact, who drafted him in the 2015 MLS Superdraft. After not being singed to a contract with the Impact, Iwasa went on trial at the San Jose Earthquakes, who also did not sign him. Iwasa then came to the Republic and was announced as a signing - along with David Estrada - the day before team’s season opener against Seattle Sounders 2.
As a rookie coming into the defending USL champions, finding time on the field was always going to be difficult for Iwasa. Displacing Captain Justin Braun or MLS Veteran David Estrada was certainly a tough ask for a rookie, talented though he may be.
Iwasa finished his rookie USL campaign with 16 games played, 5 starts, and 564 minutes played (14th highest on the team). He had just one goal and one assist in league play, although he has two of each when factoring in both friendlies and US Open Cup.
Although he is far from a finished product, Iwasa is a promising player for the Republic. He brought a lot of energy to the Republic’s attack when he was on the field, especially when he came on as a second half sub to run at tired defenders. That energy, along with his effort and willingness to work to either track down an errant pass or keep the ball has endeared him to many of the Republic faithful.
Well, that and his sweet backflip after scoring a game-winning goal in a friendly against the English Premier League’s Sunderland.
By the Numbers
Here are some fun facts on Iwasa’s rookie season by our own Evan Eyster (on Twitter @IronPonyChef).
Games: 16
Minutes: 564
Minutes per Game: 35.3
Goals: 1
Assists: 1
Shots: 21
Shots on Goal: 9
Shots per Game: 1.31
Best Game
Although there was no one match in which Iwasa took complete control and dominated, he was one of the better players on the field for Sacramento during their 1-1 draw with Real Monarchs on May 30.
Iwasa was a constant thorn in the side of the Monarchs defense that day, helping create the equalizing goal and combining well with David Estrada. On the equalizer, which you can see here thanks to vanillacokeee, Iwasa did well to keep the ball and set up Ivan Mirkovic to grab the assist. Later in the match he drew a penalty that was unfortunately not converted by Justin Braun. Iwasa was honored with his first USL Team of the Week inclusion for his performance that day.
2016 Outlook
The Republic announced last month that they will be bringing Iwasa back for the 2016 season, so it looks as though the Sacramento native will be able to continue his development with his hometown club.
Two specific things that we at ICS would like to see Iwasa improve on is his composure in front of the goal and his finishing. Although he had good moments with the Republic in 2015, there were others in which he wasted a good opportunity through either a poor shot or poor decision making in front of goal.
We would also like to see Iwasa do his part in trying to fill the offensive void left by Rodrigo Lopez and score more goals during his sophomore season, hopefully somewhere in the realm of 5 goals.
What did you think of Cameron Iwasa’s rookie season? What are you looking for in his sophomore season? Let us know in the comments below.
