NPSL Playoffs Update 7/24/21
July 24, 2021
Yesterday’s regional semifinal matches featured a balanced mix of close and not-so close matches, some normal, some not-so-much.
In the South Region semifinal, Southern States got on the board early with a point-blank header put in the net by John Cozine (Decatur, GA formerly of ULS League 2 side Daytona Rush SC via Danny Reynolds’ corner kick in the sixth minute. Reynolds (Shilton, England), who was selected in the second round of the 2020 MLS draft by Seattle Sounders and is the brother of Southern States’ coach Carl Reynolds, added to the home team’s lead with a rifle shot of a shot from just outside the box in the 30th minute. Naples United appeared to settle into the match, however, and Jonathan Gonzalez (Alta Gracia, Argentina) scored his fourth goal of the playoffs in the 36th minute with a low angle chip of the goalkeeper. As such, it looked like we were in for a close match. But six minutes later, Julian Avila-Good (Winnipeg, Canada) headed the ball in from a Cozine cross. Then, two minutes later, Diego Resquin (born in New York City, grew up in Paraguay, previously of Miami United) already on a yellow card from the 18th minute, received a second on for a hard tackle. On the ensuing free kick, Liam Bennett (Leeds, England, previously of Leeds United academy and Ocean City Nor’easters) converted Danny Reynolds’ service into a goal to give his side a 4-1 lead before the end of the first half.
Southern States’ otherwise bright evening would be marred by an altercation in the 75th minute. Reynolds was on the receiving end of a wild tackle by Jonathan Gonzalez, for which the perpetrator would immediately receive a red card. While Reynolds was down, another Naples United player stood over him (and according to the announcer) grabbed his hair. Reynolds then got up and shoved his harasser; the act would net him a red card. The incident led to a drawn-out lively argument in which Gonzalez shoved the referee (well after being carded). After the match finally resumed, Andre Deas (Atlanta, GA, previously of USL Championship’s Hartford Athletic) scored in the 84th minute to wrap up the match. Southern States will now make the 600+ mile trip to Tulsa for the South Region final versus Tulsa Athletic. They will do so without their top goal-scorer due to Reynolds’ moment of overflowing frustration. The match is scheduled for 4:00 PM on Sunday.
In the first East Region semifinal match, Georgia Revolution took the lead on a goal scored by Adam Kirkwood (Stranraer, Scotland, also of USL League 2’s South Carolina United Bantams) in the 40th minute. Georgia, who were fresh off a 16 hour journey that ended with their arrival in Baltimore at 2 AM on game-day, held the lead well into the second half before Motown equalized with a 77th minute goal officially credited to Orlando Neto (Cliffside Park, NJ, via Teixeira de Freitas, Brazil) but the club’s Twitter feed credited to Julian Gomez (Monmouth College, Fairfield, NJ). Roy Boateng (Accra, Ghana, previously of New York Red Bulls II) then scored via a late header to give FC Motown the victory.
They will face FC Baltimore Christos in the region final. Baltimore received a penalty in the first half, but the attempt was saved by Hartford’s goalkeeper, Jamis Fite (University of Michigan, West Hartford, CT). Hartford City nearly scored immediately thereafter, but the goal was ruled out for offside. Danny Baxter (Baltimore, MD), a member of that legendary 2017 Christos FC side, playing in only his second match of the season, scored in the 48th minute. Baltimore survived a nervy balance of the second half to claim victory.
Despite playing in different conferences, Hartford and Baltimore have some familiarity with one another. As part of its trip to the 2018 national championship, Motown defeated Baltimore 3-0 in an East Region semifinal match. Baltimore were 1-0 victors in the 2019 rematch (before falling to New York Cosmos B in the region final). The next chapter of their playoffs history will be written at 5:00 PM on Sunday.
The first match of the Midwest Region semifinals, between FC Milwaukee Torrent and Cleveland SC, had your correspondent wondering if their was something in the Minneapolis air that was causing abnormal behavior. The game started normally enough with Ian Cerro (Aurora, CO) scoring for Milwaukee in the 21st minute. Before the end of the first half, though, Cleveland’s coach Lewis Dunne was sent off for a tirade that included kicking advertisement signs that lined the touch-line. The dismissal didn’t seem to affect Cleveland as Admir Suljevic (Derventa, Bosnia-Herzegovina), converted a penalty in the 54th minute. Three minutes later Milwaukee’s Samuel Novak, already on a 43rd minute yellow card, received a second one in the 57th for a wild tackle that was completely pointless given that there was absolutely no scoring threat involved at the moment. About 20 minutes later, Santiago Tiburzi committed a foul that resulted in another penalty for Cleveland. In very silly fashion, he flopped in front of the ball that was placed for the penalty and feigned leg cramps. When he finally returned to his feet, he received a second yellow card (and apparently quite angrily departed the pitch), which reduced Milwaukee to nine men. Suljevic, a fixture of Cleveland soccer who was on the 2016 AFC Cleveland side that won the NPSL championship, once again converted the penalty. The match ended without further incident and Cleveland SC is in the region final for a second consecutive season (having defeated Detroit City on penalties in 2019 to win before losing to Miami FC in the national semifinals).
The second match alleviated your correspondent’s concern as it contained none of the weirdness of the front-half of the double-header. Eli Goldman (University of New Hampshire, Minneapolis, MN) opened the scoring for Minneapolis City, the overall top seed of the playoffs, in the 18th minute. The goal would be followed by this superb effort by local prodcut Aidan O’Driscoll in the 39th minute
Nicholas Hutton (Apple Valley, MN), who has been part of the Minneapolis City squad since 2017 added a goal in the 63rd minute, to close out the scoring for his side. With the 3-0 victory over a Carpathia FC that looked tired after travelling from Detroit and playing a match on Wednesday, Minneapolis City have reached the Midwest Region final for the first time in four seasons of NPSL play. The match against Cleveland SC will take place at 2:30 PM EDT.
The one playoff match tonight is the West Region final between Denton Diablos and FC Golden State. Golden State will have traveled approximately 1,400 miles from home for the match.
The winners of the region finals advance to the national semifinals, which will take place on Saturday, July 31. Seeding is based on regular season points per game. The remaining teams are ranked thusly: Minneapolis City-FC Baltimore Christos-Cleveland SC-Denton Diablos-FC Motown-Tulsa Athletic-Southern States-FC Golden State
As such, the Midwest Region champion is assured a home match in the semifinals while the South Region champion is guaranteed to be on the road. Nearly all other details will not be settled until Sunday evening when the result of the East Region final becomes evident.
The next update will be posted tomorrow morning to cover the West Region final.
Eye of the Storm 