Hayden Partain voted to USL Team of the Week

The United Soccer League (USL) announced today their Team of the Week for Week 28 and Sacramento Republic FC midfielder Hayden Partain was among the 11 players named to the team. This is Partain’s first USL Team of the Week honor as a young professional.

Partain delivered an absolute banger in the 54th minute to extend the Republic’s advantage to two goals against Tulsa Roughnecks FC. He would add a second goal in the 80th minute to record his first brace of the season in route to a 4-1 Quails victory. I’m fairly sure it’s his first brace as a member of the Republic too. Here is his goal in all its glory.

Partain has been a huge boost for Manager Simon Elliott, who has seen his midfield decimated with recent season-ending injuries to Jaime Villarreal and Adam Moffat. Partain returned on August 25 in a 2-1 win at Reno where he logged a solid 73 minutes, and has since started and played a full 90 minutes at Tulsa and Sunday at OKC Energy FC.

Elliott spoke highly about Partain last week during my season-long Extra Time with Elliott segment and the importance of players stepping up when their number is called. Credit to Partain for being ready and taking advantage of the opportunity. The Republic are certainly going to need these types of performances from players other than Cameron Iwasa, Villyan Bijev and Josh Cohen moving forward in order to make a deep playoff run.