KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Swope Park Rangers return to action for the first time in April on Saturday night when they play host to a Sacramento Republic FC coming off its first defeat of the season in midweek. Kickoff at Children’s Mercy Victory Field is set for 7 p.m. CT.

Matchcenter: http://bit.ly/2ozxBo7 | Tickets: http://bit.ly/2nvlh87 | Broadcast: CW 31 (SAC)

Swope Park Rangers news and notes

• Current record: 2-0-0, 6pts

• The Rangers enter having taken two victories to start the defense of their Western Conference championship, the second a 1-0 win against the Portland Timbers 2 on March 29.

• Kharlton Belmar scored the only goal of the game to give him two in two contests after making the offseason move to Swope Park from Portland.

• Swope Park is tied with the Tampa Bay Rowdies for the league-lead in passing success rate at 83 percent, with Wan Kuzain Wan Kamal sitting at 90.6 percent on 96 passes.

• Former Republic FC player Cameron Iwasa will be available for Swope Park after being sent on loan to the Rangers from Sporting Kansas City.

Sacramento Republic FC news and notes

• Current record: 3-1-0, 9pts

• Republic FC fell 1-0 on Tuesday night in the USL Game of the Week on ESPN3 against OKC Energy FC for its first loss of the season.

• Sacramento held 67 percent of possession, and doubled the number of passes for Energy FC, but Miguel Gonzalez’s bicycle kick finish that earned the No. 1 spot on SportsCenter’s Top 10 on Tuesday earned the hosts victory at Taft Stadium.

• The defeat broke a 14-game undefeated streak in USL regular-season play for Republic FC that dated back to July 26, 2016 when Sacramento fell to Vancouver Whitecaps FC 2.

• Republic FC will be without Chris Christian for Saturday’s contest as he serves a suspension after receiving two yellow cards against OKC which resulted in his sending off.

Series Notes

• The two teams played to a 1-1 draw at Papa Murphy’s Park last season in their only previous meeting.

Squads

• Swope Park – GK: David Greczek, Darrin MacLeod, Andrew Dykstra; D: Chase Bromstedt, Parker Maher, Oumar Ballo, Dakota Barnathan, Patrick Wilkinson, Liam Doyle, Amer Didic, Colton Storm, Erik Palmer-Brown, Tyler Pasher; M: Wan Kuzain Wan Kamal, Louis Bennett, Lebo Moloto, Max Rugova, Christian Duke, Robert Mirosavic, James Musa, Kevin Oliveira; F: Cameron Iwasa, Kharlton Belmar, Nansel Selbol, Will Little, Mark Anthony Gonzalez

• Sacramento – GK: Dominik Jakubek, Evan Newton; D: Julius James, James Kiffe,  Enrique Montano, Emrah Klimenta, Elliott Hord; M: Agustin Cazarez, Daniel Trickett-Smith, Harry Williams, Danny Barrera, Gabe Gissie, Lamin Suma, Adam Moffatt, Tyler Blackwood, Jeremy Hall; F: Wilson Kneeshaw, Sammy Ochoa, Trevin Caesar, Christian Chaney

Discipline

• Swope Park – None

• Sacramento – Suspended: Chris Christian

Officials

• REF: DULE DJURASEVIC

• AR1: Jack Feldman

• AR2: Devin Blazek

• 4TH: Ricardo Gutierrez

Game hashtag:

• #SPRvSAC

Twitter social handles

• Swope Park Rangers – @SwopeRangers

• Sacramento Republic FC – @SacRepublicFC