In some ways it felt like old times at Heart Health Park.

Packed stands filled with a sellout crowd of 11,569 fans eager for Sacramento Republic FC to bring them to their feet with stylish, attacking soccer. Familiar faces in the starting lineup, like midfielders Matt LaGrassa and Rodrigo Lopez, back in Old Glory Red after competing elsewhere in recent years.

Also familiar, the high expectations that had been heaped upon the new-look squad. The pressure to claim a second title after the success of the team’s inaugural season in 2014 is as big as it’s ever been, especially after the worst season in club history a year ago.

As Republic FC dueled with visitors El Paso Locomotive early on, that pressure of expectation showed.

“I thought a lot of us, the whole team, came out, and you can tell we’re a little nervous. Maybe a little anxious,” said Lopez. “We didn't get to play the football that we usually play.”

Passes went astray, leading to opportunities for the visitors in the opening 10 minutes. If not for a fine save by Republic FC goalkeeper Carlos Saldana to deny El Paso’s Richie Ryan from the penalty spot, a missed point-blank opportunity for Emmanuel Sonupe moments later, and other chances being denied or squandered by the visitors, the hosts could have faced a deficit that would have been hard to dig out of.

Sonupe did, in fact, give the visitors the lead shortly before the half-hour mark with a rasping finish to cap the sort of beautiful, sweeping move we’ve come to expect from El Paso. By then, however, Sacramento had at least found a foothold in the game, and that proved the difference. In the other key moment after Saldana’s early penalty save, Lopez was brought down in the penalty area in stoppage time, giving the Sacramento legend a chance to level from the spot.

There never seemed a doubt what would happen next. 

“The [penalty kick] was just something that we needed at that time,” said Lopez. “We needed the goal and I wanted to take it. You know, I want Douglas [Martinez] to be the leading scorer in the league. He deserves it. For me, he’s the best forward in the league. He gave it to me, said ‘Hey, you need to score in front of your people.’”

Lopez’s finish was clinical, sending former Republic FC teammate Evan Newton the opposite way as he fired high into the right corner of the El Paso net.

“RoRo scores a goal right on halftime and completely changes the momentum of the game,” said Republic FC Head Coach Mark Briggs. “And I thought after that you saw the game shift, and I've got to give Rodrigo a compliment because he put in a captain’s performance tonight. Even when the group was struggling in the first half, you saw somebody rally the troops, you saw somebody who still continued to try and get on the ball. Then right before halftime, he scores a goal. That’s what leaders do. And that’s why we’re fortunate to have him back.”

For one night, though, the start of the next chapter for a proud club promised a happier ending.

“I want to write a new story,” said Lopez. “And the good thing is that, you know, it wasn't the prettiest. I don't think we played the best, but I told the boys after the game, that game was all heart. It was all heart and I take my hat off to everyone who played and the guys who came off the bench.

“It was all around heart.”