Sacramento Republic down Reno 1868 in preseason tune-up

Villyan Bijev scored the lone goal in the 104th minute of a 120-minute preseason scrimmage between Sacramento Republic and Reno 1868 on Saturday in Sacramento to deliver a 1-0 win for Sacramento, as both teams gear up for the 2020 USL Championship season.

Per the club, this was the lineup info for the game for Sacramento:

Starting XI– Rafael Diaz; Aris Yang (academy player), Matt Mahoney, Hayden Sargis, Ashkanov Apollon; Jaime Villarreal, Andrew Wheeler-Omiunu, Mason Pahule (academy player), Julian Chavez (academy player), Kharlton Belmar; Cameron Iwasa

Third period XI– Adam Grinwis; Jordan McCrary, Dekel Keinan, Ciaron Jones (trialist), Giovanni Ceja (academy player); Villyan Bijev, Sam Werner, Adam Mickleson (trialist), Drew Skundrich, Esteban Garcia (academy player); Darek Formella

Among the two trialists who got playing time in this game, Mickleson is a product of Sacramento State UC Davis (h/t to @MrMorganMurphy for the correction), while Jones is something of a mystery as far as my internet sleuthing is concerned. A single hit connected someone with that name to Scottish youth club St. Roch’s FC, but it’s hard to know if that is indeed the same person or just a name shared by multiple people.

It does appear from the preseason minutes played by academy players that the club will likely be signing youngsters to academy contracts again this season, and that a few of them could be seeing time off the bench or even occasionally starting in competitive action for SRFC, although don’t be surprised if a few loan moves and pro signings are still forthcoming.

It’s good prep with the season inching closer, and Sacramento’s first opponent in the regular season, FC Tulsa on March 7, making some preseason noise that this could be their year. Will it be? Sac Republic certainly hope not, but time will tell.

What do you think? Pleased to see a result against level opposition? Don’t care since it’s the preseason? Let’s chat in the comment section below!