photo by: Contributed photo

Forward Sebastian Cruz evades a San Jose II defender during Sporting KC II's 2-1 win over Earthquakes II last Sunday on July 16, 2023 at Rock Chalk Park in Lawrence, Kansas.

With just two more matches remaining on Sporting KC II’s July slate, the club is looking more and more like a playoff contender.

SKC II (7-5-5), coming in at No. 5 in the Western Conference with 29 points after last Sunday’s 2-1 victory over San Jose Earthquakes II, has won five of its last seven matches since the beginning of June. This past match saw SKC II’s Pau Vidal grab his 10th goal of the season, making the first-year Spanish forward the sixth-highest scorer in the league.

SKC II head coach Benny Feilhaber is pleased with the aggressiveness being seen on the pitch right now.

“I thought it went really well,” Feilhaber said postgame, per the team website. “We earned the two-nothing lead and then in the second half, not as well, but we played very professionally. We put everything out on the line, and everyone gave all the effort that they had. I don’t know if you saw, but everyone’s got an icepack somewhere at the end of the game.”

At this point last season, SKC II finished July losing three consecutive matches and opened August on the bottom half of the table. The club split its final six matches of its inaugural season but is on track for a far more positive finish this time around.

In the final two matches of July, SKC II first travels to Arlington, Texas, to face North Texas SC on Saturday for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff. SKC II bested that team 5-4 on penalty kicks at the end of June. Top-ranked Western Conference foe Colorado Rapids 2, which topped SKC II 2-1 in the season opener, will be the final test on the July calendar when SKC II returns home next week.

That match, along with upcoming battles with Tacoma Defiance (Aug. 9), Minnesota United 2 (Aug. 19 and Sept. 17) and Austin FC II (Aug. 25) will be among the toughest on SKC II’s schedule heading into the postseason. SKC II forward Sebastian Cruz, who added one of the team’s two goals in last Sunday’s win, said the remainder of the schedule will be all business.

“I feel like the attitude every game is to attack,” Cruz told the team website. “It’s the second half of the season and there is nothing to lose so for us it’s very important to keep getting the three points we need. We knew San Jose was one point behind us so this was an important game for us. Every game is like a playoff game here on out.”

Playing just two matches at Rock Chalk Park next month, SKC II will move to Mercy Victory Field just off Interstate 435 in Kansas City, Missouri, beginning on Sept. 10 when SKC II hosts Chicago Fire II during its final three-game stretch of the year.