NPSL Playoffs Update 7/22/21
July 22, 2021
Updated for Gulf Coast Conference and South Region playoffs
While this weekend out to be the point at which the mostly asymmetrical NPSL playoffs finally converge to symmetry, it appears that we will have to wait a bit longer. While the West Region final is set, the East Region semifinals are scheduled (not without controversy!), and the Midwest Region quarterfinals have taken place, the South Region remains unsettled. We will review the matches that have taken place since Friday night to get us to this point as well as note the match that has yet to take place.
South Region
The Gulf Coast Conference championship match that was scheduled for Sautrday July 17 before being postponed due to “several positive COVID-19 tests reported among the New Orleans Jesters players” remains yet to be played or scheduled. On Tuesday, your correspondent noted, with skepticism, that the NPSL website showed the match scheduled for Wednesday night. The skepticism was warranted as the match (which had not been promoted by either club) disappeared from the website the next day. In hopes of receiving news of the status of this match, your correspondent has been holding the publishing window for this update open for so long that an alligator crawled through and is now roaming the premises, which forced the issue. At this time, there is nothing further to report on the matter. Although, as we shall see, a club is selling tickets for a South Region final to be played on Sunday.
UPDATE: As this post was being composed, the NPSL posted the below statement
So, Southern States is the Gulf Coast Conference champion. They will host the South Region semifinal match on Friday night.
Meanwhile, the other conference championships did take place on Saturday night. In the Sunshine Conference, Naples United upset Miami United to reach win its first conference title in four seasons of play. Long-time Miami United defender Daryl Gordon (Miami, FL) scored for the home team in the 34th minute but that was the only joy they would receive. Argentine Augustin Marisco scored in the 58th and 67th minutes. Fellow countryman Jonathan Gonzalez, who scored two goals in the conference semifinal match, added another in the 82nd minute. Yet another Argentinian, Juan Cano, who played for lower-level clubs in Sicily and Sardinia before coming to Florida, added the final goal for Naples. They will make the trip to Hattiesburg, MS to face Southern States at 7:30 PM (EDT) on Friday night.
In the Heartland Conference, Tulsa Athletic upset Demize 2-1. Colombian Juan Arias (Oral Roberts University) who is in his second season with Tulsa, scored in the 24th minute. His college teammate, Dante Brigida (Edmond, Oklahoma), added to Tulsa’s tally in the 64th minute. Demize’s lone goal came in the 87th minute via Brazilian Rian Marques (also of Major Arena Soccer League’s Kansas City Comets).
Under posted rules, Tulsa has hosting rights for the South Region final (the reason for this caveat will become soon in a bit). As shown above, Tulsa is selling tickets for a region final match to be held on Sunday. Given that the region semifinal remains to be set and (again, under posted rules), if New Orleans Jesters were to be in the semifinal, they would have to travel to Naples, Florida with the winner then having to travel to Oklahoma, it seems unlikely that this region final match will take place as scheduled. It may be the case, however, that the aforementioned complicating details have been resolved in some fashion and Tulsa has been reassured that they will host a match on Sunday. Given the radio silence from the league and the clubs involved, it is impossible to tell from publically available information. We simply have to wait and see.
Update: It appears that the match will take place as scheduled (perhaps slightly time-delayed for the benefit) of the region semifinal winner.
East Region
Thankfully, there is no such uncertainty in the East Region. On Saturday night, FC Baltimore-Christos rolled to a 3-0 victory over Philadelphia Lone Star FC. They were beaten by a couple of players familiar with the city of Brotherly Love; Ben Stitz (University of Pennsylvania, Baltimore, MD) and Brady O’Connor (Temple University, Baltimore, MD) scored in the 33rd and 51st minutes respectively. Alex Lee (Rockville, MD), who appeared in 122 matches for then USL Pro Side Richmond Kickers from 2013 to 2018 before joining Christos FC, scored the additional goal in the 89th minute. The victory means that FC Baltimore-Christos is the host for the East Region semifinals and final. More on that shortly.
In McDonough, Georgia Revolution defeated Georgia Storm to win the Southeast Conference on Saturday night. The visitors from Carrolton got on the board first with Stephen Bivens (former Revolution player and current General Manager for Storm) scoring in the 27th minute. Gianmaria Fiore (Georgia Gwinnett College, Naples, Italy) scored the equalizing goal in the 62nd minute. Ryan Carmichael (Hofstra University, Armagh, Northern Ireland) scored the game-winner 22 minutes later.
By the rules posted on the NPSL website that your correspondent was using as guidance for his outlook and updates, the win, combined with their superior PPG average, out to have given Georgia a home semifinal match. That is not to be the case, however.
In replies to this tweet, FC Motown and Philadelphia Lone Star contested Revolution’s framing of events and stated that it had been previously agreed that the East Region playoff would rotate among winners of the conferences and that this season the winner of the Mid-Atlantic Conference was going to be the host. The arrangement is sensible given the geographic spread of the teams in the region (the Midwest Region has long held its playoff semifinals and final in a common location). It is quite lamentable that Georgia Revolution was apparently unaware of this arrangement (note that its conference was previously aligned to the South Region and this is the first season it has fallen under the East) and that this arrangement was not detailed on the NPSL website in its playoffs guidelines. Anyhow, Georgia Revolution will be playing in an East Region semifinal match to be held at Baltimore on Friday.
In the North Atlantic Conference, Kingston Stockade equalized twice, but Hartford City took the lead for a third and final time to win the championship match. Cooper Knecht (Fairfield University, Storrs, CT) opened the scoring in the 13th minute. Scott Zobre (Poughkeepsie, NY), who scored Kingston’s lone goal in the conference semifinal match, put the ball in the back of the net in the 24th minute. Noah Silverman (Central Connecticut State University, Berlin, CT), who likewise scored Hartford City’s lone goal in its semifinal match put his team back in the lead six minutes later. Eight minutes after that, Hugo Guerra (University of Rhode Island, Brewster New York) drew Kingston level once again. Knecht scored the game-winner in the 76th minute. Hartford will make the trip to Charm City for a semifinal match on Friday.
On Sunday night, Morristown, New Jersey side FC Motown defeated FC Monmouth. Captain Ryan Peterson (Sydney, Australia) converted a penalty kick in the 37th minute for his second playoff goal of the year. Michael Bellow (England, previously of Atlantic City FC and NISA side New Amsterdam) notched the winning goal one minute later. The win puts FC Motown in the East Region playoff for the fifth consecutive time (having made it as Clarkstown SC Eagles in 2015 and 2016 with subsequent appearances under is current name).
The East Region semifinals will take place on Friday. Georgia Revolution faces FC Motown at 4:00 PM and FC Baltimore-Christos will take on Hartford City FC at 7:00.
Midwest Region
After closing out its regular season on Saturday, the Midwest Region playoff started on Tuesday night. The more dramatic of the two quarterfinal matches occurred between North Conference runner-up Duluth FC and Great Lakes runner-up Carpathia FC. Jake Starling (Florida Southern College, Dade City, FL) put the hosts ahead in the 26th minute. 2021 NPSL Golden Boot winner Sidney Warden (Merceyhurst University, London, England) added a goal for Duluth 12 minutes later. The visitors from Detroit rallied in the second half as Owen Smith (Oakland University, New Plymouth, New Zealand) scored goals in the 79th and 82nd minutes. The match then went to penalties and each side converted their first four attempts. Finn Jurak (Oakland University, Canberra, Australia) saved Duluth’s fifth attempt and Alex Serwatka (Oakland University, Troy, MI) converted his attempt to advance Carpathia to the region semifinals.
Cleveland SC had been poised to have a bye to the region semifinal. However, a scoreless draw at Erie Commodores on Saturday left it ranked third among conference champions in Points Per Game. Because of that, they had to play a Tuesday night quarterfinal match against fellow Rust Belt Conference side Pittsburgh Hotspurs. Vinny Bell (Parma Height, OH, member of 2016 NPSL champions AFC Cleveland) opened the scoring. Alec Nagucki (Medina, OH) added to the lead in the 27th minute. Tom Beck (Poland, OH) joined the fun in the 54th minute and Smith Pepper (Capetown, South Africa) tallied the final goal.
Minneapolis City SC, who finished the regular season with the best PPG average and therefore have the potential to host national semifinal and championship matches, will face Carpathia FC at home at 8:00 PM (EDT) Friday night. Great Lakes Conference champions FC Milwaukee Torrent takes on Cleveland at 5:00 PM in the front half of the doubleheader in Minneapolis at 5:00.
West Region
Denton Diablos defeated Laredo Heat on Saturday night to advance to the West Region final. Trevor Amann (Midwestern State University, Westminster, CO), who had a brace in the conference semifinals, earned a second one as he scored in the the 45th and second half stoppage time. James Doyle (Merseyside, England) opened the scoring for Denton in the 9th minute. Nadav Datner (Hartford University, Ya’ad, Israel) scored Laredo’s lone goal in the 75th minute.
FC Golden State claimed the Southwest Conference title on Saturday night. Eduardo Faria (Porto Alegre, Brazil) scored in the seventh and eleventh minutes. Christian Gordillo (Mexico City, MX) scored his second goal of the playoffs in the 37th minute.
The Los Angeles County side will travel to Denton for the West Region final to be played at 8:30 PM (EDT) on Saturday. Typically, the region playoff has more matches, but COVID related restrictions forced many west coast clubs to sit out the NPSL regular season.( Eight members of the Golden Gate Conference are participating in a “Return to Play” series that is independent of the season and the playoffs).
The winners of the region finals advance to the national semifinals. The top two teams on the basis of PPG get to host the matches. This is how the remaining teams are ranked by PPG
South Region – Tulsa Athletic (8), Southern States (10), Naples United (13)
East Region – FC Baltimore-Christos (3), Georgia Revolution (5*), FC Motown (7), Hartford City (11)
Midwest Region – Minneapolis City SC (1), FC Milwaukee Torrent (2), Cleveland SC (4), Carpathia FC (9)
West Region – Denton Diablos (6), FC Golden State (12)
*Georgia Revolution and Denton Diablos are level on PPG. *By one goal* Georgia Revolution gets the tiebreaker on the basis of goal differential.
As such, absent Carpathia FC stealing the show, the road to the league championship match will run through a Midewest region side. Naples United and FC Golden State are the only clubs guaranteed to be on the road if they were to advance to the national semifinals. Those matches are scheduled for Saturday, July 31. The national final will be held on Saturday August 7 at the home field of the higher ranked club.
The next update will be posted after the various region semifinal matches on Friday night. This post will be updated when the situation regarding the Gulf Coast Conference championship is resolved.
Eye of the Storm 