With a 1-1 draw Saturday against host Sacramento Republic, the San Diego Loyal slipped into third place in its USL Championship division and will hit the road for its first playoff match.
The Loyal had already clinched a playoff spot, but hoped to host the first playoff match. Instead, the team will compete Friday, Nov. 5, at Toyota Field against San Antonio FC.
It would have taken a scenario of a win in their match and a loss by Orange County against LA Galaxy II for the Loyal to have played at home. Orange County beat LA Galaxy II 1-0 in Carson.
Loyal midfielder Alejandro Guido scored in the 67th minute for the Loyal, but Sacramento shot an equalizer with a goal by Sacramento’s Cameron Iwasa in the 77th minute.
Guido found the net for SD Loyal, opening the scoring of a tightly contested match. The Chula Vista native hit an Augustine Williams pass into the penalty area, faked to the right and shook off his defender. He then cut back to the left and fired a blast from about 15 yards out into the Sacramento net.
It was Guido’s sixth goal of the season.
SD Loyal finished the regular season with a 15-12-5 record and 48 points. Orange County finished second with 52 points, behind division champ Phoenix Rising (67 points).
Landon Donovan’s team couldn’t close and seal the second place spot in the division, ending the season with two draws and two losses. It could have clinched that second-place spot with a win against Orange County earlier this month, but it allowed a tying goal in stoppage time against New Mexico and it couldn’t overcome an early goal in a 1-0 loss at Orange County.
The Loyal climbed back to tie last week’s match against Oakland Roots 3-3, but a stoppage time goal converted by Oakland via a penalty took that point from SD Loyal.
“We didn’t lose that grasp on second tonight,” manager Donovan said. “We lost it during the last week. The last four games we had three very good performances and one bad performance. Unfortunately, we didn’t get good results in any of them.”
“We let ourselves down a little bit there. But overall, honestly, it was a great performance against a team that had nothing to lose,” Donovan said. “They played more freely than they played all year and they were better than they have been a lot of times during the year.”
Concluded Donovan: “We are going there (San Antonio) to play like the home team, try to dominate the ball and finish chances. And if we finish those chances, we have a real good chance to win.”
Loyal goes to its first playoff in its second year as a team.
