NPSL Playoffs Update 7/16/21

With five upsets and three matches going to penalty kicks, there was a sane amount of drama in the NPSL playoffs on Wednesday night.

South Region

To your correspondent’s dismay, the Gulf Coast Conference was the place for surprises. The home teams, both of which defeated their visitors twice in the regular season, both lost. In Jacksonville, Sheldon Green, who arrived in the Big Easy from English National League North side AFC Fylde, put New Orleans on the scoreboard in the fourth minute. Jacksonville area native Reed Davis equalized for the home team in the twelfth minute. Four minutes later, Green again ran wild down the right side and put a ball across to long-time Jesters forward Mason Wash that subsequently ended up in the net. Jacksonville put forth a number of corner kicks and crosses into the attacking box in the second half, to no avail. An own goal scored off a ball errantly headed by a Jacksonville defender gave New Orleans security in the 76th minute and would-be national semifinalist Jacksonville found itself out of the playoffs.

The night would prove similarly joyless for the playoff hosts out west on Interstate 10. Tom Shepherd, who is from Stoke-On-Trent, England, provided a quick goal for Southern States. Jamaican born Jabari Hylton, who spent his youth in England before returning home and playing three seasons with University of the West Indies Football Club, equalized for Pensacola in the 11th minute. Oxford, England born defender Danny Reynolds, who had failed to convert a penalty in the May 30 meeting between these two clubs, put Southern States back in the lead in the 42nd minute. The Hattiesburg, Mississippi side held on for the victory and will host New Orleans in the conference championship on Saturday.

Boca Raton took an early lead against Miami United with a goal scored by Pedro Veiga. Argentine Nicolas Micoli equalized in the 30th minute and Matias Solari converted a penalty four minute later to put United ahead. Paulo Reichardt extended Miami’s lead ten minute later. Sinisa Sprecakovic (from Mannheim, Germany and a player for local Lynn University) answered for Boca Raton early in the second half, but Solari scored again to put Miami United in the conference championship.

Their neighbors were not so fortunate. Miami Dutch Lions found itself down 0-3 before putting a goal on the board in the 85th minute via Presten Manthey. Naples United established its lead with goals by Jonathan Gonzalez (11′, 53′) and Lucas Espindola (28′). Pablo Marisi put the icing on the cake with a goal in the 88th minute. Naples will travel to Miami on Saturday in a rematch of a 2019 conference semifinal in which Miami United was victorious.

Things went to form in the Heartland Conference, thought it was a close-run thing. In Springfield Missouri, Quentin Hormung from Geneva, Switzerland, playing in his second season with Demize, scored the opening goal in the sixth minute. Zambian-born winger Salifyaji Mugala answered for Arkansas three minutes later. Brazilian forward Rian Marques, who also plays for Major Arena Soccer League side Kansas City Comets gave Demize the decisive goal in the 72nd minute.

The most dramatic game of the evening occurred in Tulsa. Joe Garcia, in his fourth campaign with Tulsa Athletic converted a penalty in the 40th minute. Callum Shepherd, who came to Oklahoma from Liverpool, England, equalized for OKC in the 62nd minute and they took the lead two minutes later thanks to a goal scored by Jason Hogan.. In the final minute of stoppage time, Jamie Gilbert, with OKC for a fourth season, scored via a header to force extra time. With no goals scored in extra time, the match went to penalties. Bryson Reed, a three season veteran of Tulsa saved OKC’s second attempt. All other penalties were converted, which gave Tulsa the victory. They will travel to Demize on Saturday for the conference championship.

The upset of Jacksonville Armada U-23 means that Demize has now the inside line to the South Region final as winning the conference final and having the best regular season PPG of the other conference champions will give it a bye. If Demize loses and Miami United wins, United gets the bye. Otherwise, Tulsa Athletic gets to automatically advance to the region final, if it upsets Demize.

East Region

Northern Virginia United had a 2-0 lead in its Mid-Atlantic Conference semifinal match versus Philadelphia Lone Star. Arlington, Virginia native Carter Humm scored in the fourth minute and fellow area native Jack Rawlins added a goal 20 minutes later. Liberian-born, Philadelphia raised forward Anthony Allison provided Lone Star’s immediate response. Patrick Singbah, who has previously played for Liberian side Nimba United FC and NPSL side FC Columbus, provided the equalizer in first-half stoppage time. Anthony Allison’s second goal was the winner, scored in the 73rd minute. Northern Virginia will face FC Baltimore-Christos in the conference championship on Saturday.

In McDonough, top-seed Georgia Revolution survived a strong challenge from LSA Athletico Lanier. Dylan Gaither from Augusta, who previously played for Atlanta United 2 in the USL Championship, scored the opening goal for Revolution in the third minute. Mercer University teammate and McDonough native Ousman Jabang scored the second goal in the 49th minute. Lanier did not get on the scoreboard until the 82nd minute, which is when Juan Munoz-Monsalve scored. Kahlil Bell, previously of USL League Two side Birmingham Hammers provided the equalizer. A scoreless extra time gave way to penalties. Ontario, Canada native Chris Banfi saved Lanier’s seventh attempt, which set up Colchester, England native Oliver Peters’ match-winning conversion.

In Carrollton, Georgia Storm defeated Boone, North Carolina based Appalachian FC. Powder Springs, Georgia native Andrew Carleton, who has experience with Atlanta United, Atlanta United 2, Charleston Battery, and Indy Eleven, scored for Storm in the third minute. Brazilian Angelo Fabricio equalized for Appalachian in the 16th minute. Forward Wilfried Kamdem Tchoupa, who hails from, Yaounde, Cameroon, scored the match winner. Revolution will host Storm in the all-Georgia conference final on Saturday.

In Hartford, Berlin, Connecticut native Noah Silverman scored the lone goal of Hartford City’s match versus Valeo FC in the 26th minute. There was more drama, though, in Albany, New York. Scott Zobre (Poughkeepsie, NY) scored for visiting Kingston Stockade in the 39th minute. Kevin Winglosky (Schodack, NY) provided the tying goal in the 62nd minute. Kingston were reduced to 10 men as Paterson Kadore (Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso) received a red card for violent conduct in the 71st minute. The match would go on to penalty kicks. The second attempts of both squads were both saved. New York’s fifth attempt went over the bar and Paul Makaj (Lagrangeville, NY) converted the winning penalty for Kingston. They will travel to Hartford for the conference championship on Saturday.

West Region

There was comparatively little excitement to be offered in the Lone Star Conference. Denton scored four goals in 24 minutes and added another two before the end of the first half. Trevor Amman (Westminster, CO) opened the scoring and notched a brace. Sam Coad (Highland Village, TX) scored a hat trick. Ricardo Becerra (Southlake, TX) scored the seventh and final goal of the match.

In Laredo, Riccardo Turcis (Turin, Italy) scored in the 27th and 64th minute. Laredo native Elias Periales scored in second half stoppage time. Laredo will face Denton in the conference championship on Saturday.

Finally, in Irvine, California, FC Golden State came out on top versus FC Arizona in the Southwest Conference semifinal. Carlos Anguiano (Los Angeles) scored in the 13th minute and his goal immediately followed by that of Christian Gordillo (Mexico City, MX). Golden State will travel to Las Vegas for the conference championship on Saturday.

As mentioned in the previous update, from the East Region, the Keystone Conference’s semifinal matches are tonight:

West Chester United vs FC Monmouth (7:30 PM): The Pennsylvania club won the sole meeting between the two clubs; 2-0 on June 26. Last year, it lost to FC Motown in the conference semifinal and lost to the same club in the 2018 conference final. Monmouth missed the 2019 playoffs; the New Jersey club’s only playoff appearance came in its 2018 debut season where it lost to Motown in the conference semifinal.

Atlantic City FC vs FC Motown (7:00 PM): The clubs drew 2-2 on May 15 while Atlantic City beat the Morristown, New Jersey club 3-0 on June 5. Atlantic City made the playoffs in its second season (2019) but fell to Philadelphia Lone Star in the conference semifinals. In 2019, Motown reached the Northeast Region semifinal where it fell to FC Baltimore-Christos. In 2018 the club reached the league championship match where it was defeated by Miami FC.

Also, the final regular season matches of the Midwest Region’s North Conference are tonight. At 7:45 PM EDT, Med City faces Minneapolis City SC and at 8:00 PM, Duluth takes on Sioux Falls Thunder FC. As Duluth holds the head-to-head tiebreaker, Med City must post the better result to get the second playoff berth for the conference. Otherwise, Duluth will claim it.

The next update will be posted on Saturday morning to provide recaps of tonight’s matches as well as previews of the various conference finals that will take place on Saturday night.