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San Diego Loyal Draws Sellout Crowd to First Match

San Diego Loyal SC first match crowd

USL Championship’s San Diego Loyal started strong on Saturday night, welcoming a reported sellout crowd of 6,100 fans to its first match.

San Diego is beginning play as a Division II USL Championship expansion club this year, with home matches played at the University of San Diego’s Torero Stadium. The club hosted Las Vegas Lights FC in its inaugural regular-season match on Saturday, and it was met with enthusiasm from a reported sellout crowd of 6,100 fans.

The crowd brought an extra sense of energy to the match, which ultimately resulted in the Loyal and Lights playing to a 1-1 draw. More from the San Diego Union-Tribune:

It met the sellout standard — a few hundred seats were empty, but a few hundred fans stood above the seated bowl — and noisy enthusiasm held through both 45-minute halves and three minutes of extra time.

“Incredible crowd. San Diego showed up for their team,” Loyal coach Landon Donovan said.

The soccer, played in dry, cool conditions, was true to the forecast of Eric Wynalda. “The game could be erratic at times,” said the San Diego State alum, who coaches the Lights, “but it will be full of energy.”

The attendance figure in San Diego was among the highlights of USL Championship’s first week of 2020 regular-season play, which also saw Sacramento Republic FC draw a reported crowd of 11,569 and Memphis 901 FC host its home opener before a reported club-record sellout crowd of 8,571. You can keep track of USL Championship attendance figures throughout the season on this page.

Image courtesy San Diego Loyal.

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