SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Sacramento Republic FC Coach Paul Buckle praised the sellout crowd of 11,569  fans at Bonney Field on Saturday night, as they boosted the side when it needed it most in a 1-1 draw against the Swope Park Rangers on Saturday night.

“I’m proud of the fans, the way they carried on supporting us,” Buckle said following the game. “I think that’s when you see the real importance of our supporters. We go a goal down and they just push the team forward and the team reacted. The team reacted very, very well.”

The Rangers had taken a one-goal lead with 17 minutes to go thanks to an excellent long-range strike by Kevin Oliveira from 30 yards that tailed into the right corner of the net. While the goal at first appeared to stun the capacity crowd, moments later the fans returned to their feet, and three minutes later were celebrating a well-worked equalizer by Cameron Iwasa that earned the side a point.

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“It was a good move, some good movement,” Iwasa said. “Harry [Williams] eventually slipped it through to Tommy [Stewart], who played an unselfish ball to me and I had pretty much an open net, easy finish. Great ball movement from the team led to an easy finish in the end for me.”

Williams’ play was one of the game’s highlights, as the young English striker combined well with new addition Daniel Trickett-Smith to push Republic FC’s attack forward. Williams finished with a game-high four shots, two of which were saved by Rangers goalkeeper Zac Lubin, and another which rolled agonizingly wide of the post in the first half after a good move through the midfield sprang him in behind the defense.

An offseason addition, the 20-year-old’s performance continued to illustrate the potential he brings to Sacramento’s lineup.

“You can see the signs are good,” said Buckle. “He has a real knack of getting away from his man. Just when you think he’s going to be tied up and the ball is going to be taken off of him, he’s able wriggle through and normally he’s a very good finisher. It would have been lovely to see him score because the play leading up to it was fabulous.”

Sitting in sixth position in the Western Conference after the draw, Republic FC now faces a busy week that will conclude next Saturday night with a clash against the LA Galaxy II at Bonney Field. With Los Dos appearing to find their form again in a 4-1 win against Arizona United SC on Saturday, Sacramento will be aiming to replicate the performance it put in earlier this month when it took a 2-0 win at StubHub Center.

After rallying well against Swope Park, Iwasa is hopeful the bounces will go Sacramento’s way when it hosts its California rival, after they didn’t against the Rangers.

“We had plenty of opportunities,” Iwasa said. “Pretty unlucky of some them not to go. Danny [Barrera] had that strike from the top of the box and the ‘keeper made an unbelievable save, so tip your hat to him on that. Sometimes you just don’t get that final touch, that final bounce.”