The Sacramento Republic's USL title defense ended at the first postseason hurdle on Saturday night, as the fifth-seeded LA Galaxy II upset the 2014 league champions 1-0 in a tense conference quarterfinal playoff match at Bonney Field.
The New York Red Bulls II will join Galaxy II in the USL conference semifinals thanks to a dramatic 4-2, extra-time win over the Pittsburgh Riverhounds at Red Bull Arena.
The visitors grabbed an early lead, but Manolo Sanchez's second-half equalizer sent the match to overtime, where defender Karl Ouimette scored twice from Danny Bedoya corner kicks to spearhead a furious RBNYII flurry in overtime before Bedoya added a late insurance goal. New York will meet Eastern Conference No. 1 seed and New England Revolution affiliate club the Rochester Rhinos in the first of four semifinal matchups next weekend (7:05 pm ET, streamed live on YouTube).
In Sacramento, Bryan Olivera’s early penalty kick was the difference as LA's defense weathered heavy pressure all game from the Republic, but did not break, with goalkeeper Clement Diop making several saves in front of a sellout crowd of 11,442. With the win, the Galaxy II avenged their loss to Sacramento in last season’s USL semifinals and advance to meet the top-seeded Orange County Blues in a Southern California showdown on Saturday at Shapell Memorial Stadium (10 pm ET, YouTube).
In other first-round USL playoffs action, the Seattle Sounders 2 weren't quite as successful, as they lost 2-0 to the Colorado Springs Switchbacks on Friday night. First-half goals from Miguel Gonzalez and J.J. Greer downed the visitors at Sand Creek Stadium, dropping the curtain on S2's inaugural season. Colorado Springs will travel to Oklahoma City for a duel with Sporting Kansas City affiliate OKC Energy at Taft Stadium on Sunday, Oct. 4 (7 pm ET, YouTube).
Both the Switchbacks and the Energy are led by former MLS standouts: Steve Trittschuh and Jimmy Nielsen, respectively.
In the other first-round playoff game, D.C. United affiliate Richmond Kickers lost to Houston Dynamo partners Charleston Battery in another overtime thriller, with Charleston's Dane Kelly and Forrest Lasso scoring to offset a Taylor Mueller own goal after the first 90 minutes ended 0-0. The Battery thus advance to a conference semifinal clash with Orlando City affiliates Louisville City on Saturday (7:30 pm ET, YouTube).
