NPSL Round Up and Playoff Preview
Muskegon and Med City seal byes, Cleveland also a conference winner.
Thursday:
Muskegon Risers 2 vs 0 FC Columbus
Vitalis Takawira Jr scored twice to seal Risers the Great Lakes conference championship and a bye through the first round of the playoffs. They also finish the regular season undefeated.
Friday:
Duluth FC 3 vs 2 Sioux Falls Thunder FC
A half of football dominated by dogged Sioux Falls defense (and spectacular goalkeeping) to keep out a marauding Duluth FC team determined to put pressure on Med City FC for the second bye in the playoffs, which would go to the North conference champion. It was scoreless at the half.
Blake Perry scored the opening goal in the 57th, breaking an offside trap by the Thunder defense on the counter attack. Wynand Wessels put away a PK to make it 2–0 in the 63rd minute. Rory Carlson tripled the lead in the 76th minute, on the rebound after an initial shot was stopped by the keeper. It was 3–1 two minutes later after James Bolger scored from a right wing attack. The lead was down to 3–2 in the 85th minute after Tyler Limmer finished off a ball headed across the six yard box following a corner but another late rally from the Thunder came up short.
Dakota Fusion FC 4 vs 1 Minnesota TwinStars FC
Shoki Yoshida and Takeroh Murakawa in the opening 15 mins and then Nozumu Kamei only a few mins later gave Fusion a 3–0 lead. Pe Carlos Gbamy made it 3–1, driving in from the right. An own-goal was credited for Dakota Fusion for a 4–1 lead and that was it for the two clubs’ seasons.
La Crosse Aris 2 vs 4 Minneapolis City SC
Tyler Oliver opened the scoring after 15 mins, Baraka Tarleton shot through the keeper’s legs to make it 2–0 at half time. Aris halved the deficit through Diego Arenal. Arthur Parens made it 3–1 in the 61st minute. 3–2 in the 81st by Abdul Samet Ankaoglu before the scoring was completed from a PK by Justin Oliver in the 90th.
Saturday:
Joy Athletic Club vs Med City FC
And so it was that the regular season was wrapped up with Med City needing all three points from a road trip to St. Louis Park. They went ahead in the 7th minute, after an attack down the right ended in a goalmouth scramble and it was acrobatically turned in at the far post. Med City hit the crossbar in the 57th minute but the rebound was palmed away. The visitors made it 2–0 with a blast from the edge of the penalty area in the 60th minute. That was enough to bring Med City it’s first conference championship.
Midwest Region Quarter-Finals:
#1 Muskegon Risers and #2 Med City FC have byes through this round.
The remaining match-ups (both on July 19) are as follows:
#3 Cleveland SC vs #6 Pittsburgh Hotspurs
This is a rematch of the top two teams in the Rust Belt conference and therefore I don’t know a great deal about these sides, but since Cleveland won the division with some spare, they should be headed to the semi-finals.
#4 Duluth FC vs #5 FC Columbus
An 800 mile road trip north-west faces FC Columbus. It will probably be a closely contested match, between two sides who in good form and took their conference titles to the last week.
The Regional Semi-Finals and Final will be hosted at the same location on July 22nd and 23rd. That location is yet to be decided at time of publication. Stay tuned here and on Twitter.
