PHOENIX, Arizona (Wednesday, August 30) – Phoenix Rising FC (10-8-8) won its second match in five days, moving up the table to sixth place with a 2-1 win against Sacramento Republic (13-5-9) tonight at 38th St/Washington.
Golden boot candidates Manuel Arteaga (13 goals) and Daniel Trejo (14 goals) found the back of the net for Rising in the win. Gabi Torres and Arteaga picked up assists on the goals for Phoenix, which is back in action this Saturday, September 2 against Rio Grande Valley Toros FC. Tickets for that match are available here or by calling 623-594-9606.
Tonight, Rising Captain Darnell King, making his 100th all-time appearance for the club, nearly got Phoenix rolling in just the fourth minute when Alejandro Fuenmayor played him into space behind Sacramento’s back line. King caught up to the pass just before it crossed the endline and centered the ball for Fede Varela to finish off. Unfortunately for Rising, Varela’s left-footed attempt skipped wide of the post to Republic goalkeeper Daniel Vitiello’s left side.
Arteaga had his chance to open the scoring come and go in the 29th minute. Trejo set up the chance for Phoenix’s No. 9, drawing multiple defenders to the top of the box before slipping a short pass to his left. Arteaga tried to pick out a similar spot as Varela but came up with the same result as the ball zipped well West of the post to Vitiello’s left.
Rising’s Varela finally unlocked Sacramento’s defense in the 60th minute. Following a one-two pass with Varela, Torres darted towards the goal. Varela found him with a brilliant ball over the top, that had Torres one-on-one with Vitiello. Unselfishly, Torres drew the goalkeeper before sliding a pass into the center for Arteaga. The forward took a touch before hammering a shot down the center of the goal to make it 1-0.
Five minutes later, Rising took a two-goal lead when Varela picked off a pass in the center of the pitch and knocked the ball to Arteaga. In time and space, Arteaga picked up his head and see Trejo streaking towards goal. He played the ball in-behind the defense and Trejo converted his team-leading 14th goal of the season, beating Vitiello low to his right side. The goal also leveled Trejo with San Antonio FC’s Tani Oluwaseyi and Pittsburgh’s Albert Dikwa for the league lead in goals this season.
Sacramento pulled a goal back on a corner kick in the 84th minute. Rodrigo Lopez sent in the cross, finding Shane Wiedt at the far side of the six-yard box. Wiedt out-muscled his marker and got off a looping header that floated over Rising goalkeeper Rocco Rios Novo and settled into the back of the net to make it a 2-1 final.
Scoring:
PHX – Manuel Arteaga (Gabi Torres) 60
PHX – Danny Trejo (Manuel Arteaga) 65
SR – Shane Wiedt (Rodrigo Lopez) 84
Discipline:
SR – Aldair Sanchez (caution) 18
PHX – Renzo Zambrano (caution) 24
PHX – Darnell King (caution) 38
PHX – Mo Traore (caution) 71
PHX – Jose Andres Hernandez (caution) 88
PHX – Carlos Harvey (caution) 90+3
Lineups:
Phoenix Rising FC – Rocco Rios Novo, Alejandro Fuenmayor, John Stenberg, Mo Traore, Darnell King (Eddie Munjoma 62), Jose Andres Hernandez (Daniel Krutzen 90+1), Renzo Zambrano (Carlos Harvey 62), Gabi Torres (Uzo 82), Danny Trejo, Fede Varela (Panos Armenakas 82), Manuel Arteaga.
Substitutes Not Used: Patrick Rakovsky, Uzo, Dariusz Formella.
Sacramento Republic – Daniel Vitiello, Lee Desmond, Jared Timmer, Shane Wiedt, Jack Gurr (Damia Vlader 75), Luther Archimède (Sebastian Hererra 65), Arnold López, Russell Cicerone (Zeiko Lewis 65), Aldair Sanchez, Cristian Parano (Rodrigo Lopez 76), Luis Felipe (Nick Ross 76).
Substitutes not Used: Carlos Saldaña, Conor Donovan, Keko Lewis.
