RENO, Nev. – Reno 1868 FC closed out the regular season at home with a draw against rival Sacramento Republic FC Saturday night.

The draw in front of 6,144 fans at Greater Nevada Field ensured an unbeaten season (2-0-1) against Sacramento.

Reno 1868 FC is headed to the USL Cup Playoffs as the No. 3 seed, but will have to wait until Sunday afternoon to see if they’ll play Tulsa Roughnecks FC or OKC Energy FC.

Reno’s first playoff game begins at 5:25 p.m. at Greater Nevada Field on Oct. 21. The first 2,000 fans through the rotunda entrance will receive free hand-clappers.

Saturday night’s match was physical from the start.

Standout Sacramento forward Sammy Ochoa kicked off the scoring with a goal in the 16th minute to put Sacramento up 1-0.

Reno responded in the 41st minute with USL Rookie of the Year contender Chris Wehan burying a shot off an assist by Brent Richards. It was Wehan’s eighth goal of the season to go along with his league-leading 12 assists.  

Reno struck first in the second half with forward Antoine Hoppenot scoring his 12th goal of the season off an individual effort to put Reno up 2-1.

But Ochoa wasn’t done as he scored the final goal of the night in the 67th minute after Wilson Kneeshaw found him in the box.

Despite the draw, Reno’s two goals added to the highest-scoring season in USL history. Reno leads North America with 75 goals this year.

Tickets for Reno’s home playoff match are on sale at Greater Nevada Field and at Reno1868FC.com/playofftickets.

Reno 1868 FC Postgame Quotes

Midfielder Matt La Grassa

On playing his former team…

“When I made the choice to come to Reno there was no real bad blood with the club. Every time I face them it brings out some mixed emotions for sure. I know all of those guys and I want to compete hard against them and that’s what it is all about, battling people you know; it makes it more fun for me really.”

On leaving his hometown to come thrive in Reno…

“It’s never an easy choice, but I felt like I needed to do what was best for my career and I felt like Reno was the choice for me. You know I think it’s clearly panning out that way, you know I’ve had a great season and Reno has had a great season. I’m very happy with the choice I made. It’s not easy to leave your hometown and your family, but it’s a good thing we’re not too far away.”

On moving into playoffs following clinching third seed…

“We’ll approach it similar to a lot of other games throughout the season. We have a week to prepare, execute a game plan and try to make as many of the controllable factors go our way. That’s all you can do. It’s a one game series, it’s going to be a battle, but we’re going to do everything in our power to give ourselves the advantage.”

Midfielder Antoine Hoppenot

On not losing a regular season game to division rival Sacramento…

“It’s nice, obviously you want to beat your rival. It’s one for the fans, they [the fans] wanted to beat them real bad. Obviously that translates to us and we wanna go out there and beat them. You can tell the guys that are out there are fighting really hard on both sides. There was tackles in there that were rival tackles and that’s how it goes.”

On clinching third seed with either OKC or Tulsa looming a week away…

“Yeah we don’t care [which team it is], it doesn’t matter. Obviously both teams have done what they’ve done this year. They’re good teams, they’ve done enough to get to playoffs. So we know we have to go out there and play well, but we know what we have to do and it’s really on us. We’re the third seed and we know if we go out there and play our game we should win and that’s all that really matters.”

On this being his most productive season yet?... (12 Goals, 6 Assists)

“Yeah I think so, professionally it is in terms of pure stats. Obviously, it’s been a really great year, all thanks to a lot of these guys [his teammates] putting me in positions and it’s been a joy to play with them. It's been amazing.”

Head Coach Ian Russell

On tonight’s physicality against division rival…

“Sometimes I think you get refs that let a lot of things go, sometimes they call it real tight, he let a lot of things go. So, it got real physical, but I thought the ref did a good job for the most part. He reffed a good game.”

On clinching third seed moving into playoffs getting ready face either Tulsa or OKC…

“Two good teams, we’ll prepare for whatever happens tomorrow. I believe OKC plays Seattle. Whoever we match up with we’ll scout them all week. We know both teams already, but we’ll be really prepared.”

On not losing to division rival Sacramento in the regular season…

“It’s a good feeling. They’ve been around for a long time, they’re a great franchise and it shows that we have a good group of players that can get results against a good team.”