LOYAL HAS FIRST PLACE IN THEIR SIGHTS

More than one-quarter of the way through the 2023 USL Championship season, San Diego Loyal SC is sitting pretty.

The Loyal are 5-2-2 through nine matches; their 17 points are one behind the Sacramento Republic FC for first place in USL Championship’s Western Division.

San Diego can keep pace

— or even potentially leapfrog into first — today, when it takes on Rio Grande

Valley FC at 7 p.m. inside University of San Diego’s Torero Stadium. Sacramento (5-0-3) will play the Indy Eleven in California’s capitol at the same time.

While it’s too soon — nine matches into a 32-match regular season — to make any grand pronouncements about the Loyal, there is already a lot to like.

The club won its first road match of the season last week, beating Orange County SC 2-1 in Irvine. Tumi Moshobane scored his Loyal career-record 19th goal, and Major League Soccer veteran Joe Corona chipped in with a penalty kick for his first-ever USL Championship score.

The club held on after 15 minutes of second-half stoppage time were added to the end of the match; OC scored its only goal six minutes into the extra time.

The Loyal must keep winning on the road to keep a first-place pace. They’ll spend their next three Saturdays chasing victories in Miami, Fla., Oakland and Sacramento.

Seven of the club’s next nine matches will be played on the road, the only exceptions being a June 9 game against Sacramento and a June 14 game against San

Antonio.

The reward, should San Diego survive the gauntlet, is sweet.

The team will play five home matches in a row from July 29 to Aug. 19, then — following an Aug. 26 road game against Rio Grande Valley — return home for a Sept. 3 match against Birmingham.