Spokane, WA — Spokane Velocity FC traveled to Sacramento to kick off their Prinx Tires USL Cup campaign, but fell 4-0 on the road to the 2025 Cup finalists Sacramento Republic FC.
Postgame, Velocity FC head coach Leigh Veidman reflected on his team’s performance in the loss.
“We were very poor in transition with too many individual mistakes that hurt us,” Veidman said. “When you make those mistakes against a team like Sacramento, you get punished and that’s exactly what happened tonight.”
Spokane leapt out to a bright start in Sacramento, enjoying a solid run of possession early. With a dangerous cross from the left flank deflecting off the hand of an opposing defender in just the third minute, defender Moses Mensah earned a free kick for Velocity FC just outside the box. Winger Joe Gallardo sent the resulting kick on target, forcing an early save from Sacramento goalkeeper Danny Vitiello.
But just two minutes later, it was Sacramento who opened the scoring with a deadly counterattack, via midfielder Arturo Rodriguez playing a long ball over Spokane’s defensive line to be tucked away by winger Tyler Wolff.
It took Wolff — a former MLS goalscorer for Atlanta United and new signing for Sacramento — just five minutes into his debut to net a first goal for his new club.
Sacramento was forced into an early substitution due to injury, bringing on Mayele Malango for Dominik Wanner in the 39th minute and the forward instantly brought an attacking threat for the hosts.
Malango broke through in the fourth minute of first-half stoppage time off another long ball counterattack this time set up by forward Forster Ajago, as the substitute doubled Sacramento’s lead just before the break.
Another cross from Mensah in the 39th minute set up what may have been Spokane’s best chance to score in the first half. The left back found the feet of Spokane forward Shavon John-Brown with a looped cross into Sacramento’s box, but the Grenadian attacker just couldn’t poke the ball around the goalkeeper, firing instead into Vitiello’s chest.
The back-and-forth play continued into the second half, but Malango extended the hosts’ advantage to 3-0 with his second goal of the night in the 56th minute off a second assist of the game for Arturo Rodriguez.
Veidman substituted off defender Lucky Opara for forward Anuar Pelaez in the 62nd minute in an offensive-minded change for the club, aiming to close the gap in the last third of the game. Pelaez was substituted in alongside midfielders Bryce Meredith and Luis Gil, two players making their returns from periods outside of the team.
“It felt really good to be back out competing with the team,” Meredith said. “It was an unfortunate result, but it gives us a lot to learn from going forward.”
It was Meredith’s first appearance of the season after missing the start of the season with an injury, while club captain Gil featured in his first game since March 27 coming off paternity leave.
Shortly after the subs were made, Spokane defender Cameron Miller went close with a header off an Andre Lewis cross, but the ball carried just wide of the far post.
Spokane had their own debut player come into the game in the 79th minute, with defender Ibrahim Janis Covi replacing Gagi Margvelashvili at center back after joining the club in late March.
But shortly after the change, a strike from defender Michelle Benitez made it 4-0 to Sacramento — a scoreline that would see out the rest of the game.
Velocity FC midfielder Colin Fernandez was a bright spot for Spokane against Sacramento, completing all but one of his 32 passes in his first start since the season opener against Union Omaha on March 15.
“Unfortunately, we fell short of our goal, but nonetheless, we continued to battle for 90 minutes and played decent football,” Fernandez said. “We just need to be better in moments throughout the game.”
But across both halves, the score didn’t reflect how dangerous Spokane was, despite playing away from home against a team with cup pedigree from the top tier of USL. Velocity FC mustered 12 shots with four of them on target, forcing some impressive stops from Vitiello and the Sacramento defense.
“You could see tonight glimpses of who we can be, but we still have a lot of work to do,” Veidman said. “We’ve got to keep things in perspective that we’ve had just eight days of proper training with our full roster.”
Following Velocity FC’s loss to Sacramento, the team will travel to Texas to take on USL League One newcomers Corpus Christi FC on May 2 at Corpus Christi Sports Complex. It will be Spokane’s first league match since their 3-1 win over Richmond Kickers on April 11. The game versus Corpus Christi FC is set to kickoff at 5:30 PM PT and can be streamed on ESPN+. For tickets to Velocity FC’s next home match on May 10 against FC Naples, visit Velocity FC Tickets – USL Spokane.
