Sammy Ochoa Receives USL Team of the Week Honors

After Sacramento Republic’s 2-0 win and Sammy Ochoa’s impressive performance against Seattle Sounders 2, he was named to the USL team of the week. The USL describes Ochoa’s performance as that of a great passer, which somewhat leans away from what he’s most known for as player with a rocket leg and Republic’s second leading scorer.

This was Ochoa’s first USL start and overall appearance since Republic’s June 17th match against the Vancouver Whitecaps where he scored a goal and only played for the first half. Ochoa appeared to thrive in the 4-2-4 by being a distributor to several teammates and getting both of the match’s assists to Treavin Caesar and Tyler Blackwood. I know Blackwood’s goal was a fluke, but Ochoa was still responsible for putting him in a position to score or make an easy cross.

Although in the highlight, you don’t see Ochoa’s pass, you can clearly see how much room Blackwood had to run with the ball.

His passing was a main reason for receiving the honor, but overall Ochoa’s stats for the match were impressive:

• 81.4% overall passing accuracy (43 passes)
• 74.3% passing accuracy in enemy territory
• 2 shots on goal
• 2 assists; 2 additional chances created
• 80% aerial duels won
• 1 blocked shot (as a Forward)

Congrats Sammy Ochoa! Let’s check out the game’s highlights: