AC Boise knocks out Sacramento Republic in USL Cup upset

Nick Moon put Athletic Club Boise ahead in the seventh minute and Tumi Moshobane doubled the lead in the 64th as the League One side beat Sacramento Republic FC 2-0 at Athletic Club Boise Soccer Stadium in Boise, Idaho, in the final round of the 2026 Prinx Tires USL Cup group stage. The result eliminated Sacramento and extended Boise’s run of results against USL Championship opposition.

Boise struck first against the run of play. Thomas Amang helped start the passing sequence that freed Moon inside the box, and Moon finished past Danny Vitiello for the opening goal. Sacramento had its best chances before halftime through Mayele Malango, who slipped a ball to Kyle Edwards for a shot that was blocked, then later delivered a lofted cross that Blake Willey headed toward goal, only for the attempt to be pushed over the bar.

After the break, Sacramento kept the ball and tried to force the issue, but Boise absorbed the pressure and found the second goal it needed. Substitute Omar Yehya opened space on the left and sent a pass to Moshobane, who drove a strong shot into the net to make it 2-0. Sacramento finished with 14 shots, six on target and eight corner kicks, but Jonathan Kliewer and the Boise back line held firm.

The upset was not a one-off. Boise had already knocked off two other Championship clubs in the tournament, rallying from a two-goal halftime deficit to beat Monterey Bay FC 4-3 and taking a shootout win over Las Vegas Lights FC in its debut. Those results, paired with the Sacramento win, gave Athletic Club Boise three Championship scalps in the same cup campaign and turned the expansion side into one of the competition’s hardest teams to dismiss.

That matters in a tournament built to level the field across the league. The 2026 Prinx Tires USL Cup is the third edition of the interleague event, with all 43 teams from the USL Championship and USL League One in the draw, and only the seven group winners plus one wild card moving on. Sacramento entered the night with a 5-4-4 regular-season record and a 2-0-1 Cup mark, but Boise’s urgency and depth made that resume irrelevant. Nate Miller, who returned to the head coaching ranks after three seasons at Real Salt Lake, has turned AC Boise’s inaugural season into a case study in how quickly the gap across the divisions can shrink.