Lionsbridge FC 1–1 The Villages SC (a.e.t.) · Lionsbridge win 4–3 on penalties
A hundred and twenty minutes at TowneBank Stadium in Newport News, two days after a hundred and twenty against Little Rock, and a second shootout in three days.
This one went the other way.
We had the better of the first half. A one-on-one with the keeper went just wide on 6. A good free-kick position on 11. Mathias Tieppo made a great save on 14. Lucas Mauro went down on a rough challenge on 25, and put a one-on-one high right before the break.
0–0 at half time.
Then, a minute into the second half, we scored.
46' — Alvaro Carrera, assisted by Matheus Ferreira.
1–0, and forty-four minutes from a national final.
Tieppo saved a dangerous shot on 49. Lionsbridge were booked on 50 for a rough challenge, and again on 53 for what our own feed described as practically clotheslining one of our forwards. Lucas Mauro hit a scorcher just over the bar on 55.
69' — Josh Baker levelled it.
Tieppo saved again on 71, and again on 78. Chris Dilan came on at 81 and put a shot inches over. Three minutes of stoppage, then thirty more.
1–1 after ninety. Two full fifteens of extra time, no golden goal, nobody separated.
Penalties, for the second time in three days.
Nicolai Muench scored. Fred Ferreira scored. Austin Lukasik scored.
Lionsbridge made four — Davide Materazzi, Sam Hall, Andrew Bennett and Coleman Jennings.
4–3.
Against Little Rock, forty-eight hours earlier, we had scored all five.
Hogan and Baker were named Lionsbridge's men of the match. They earned it.
What this team did this summer.
Southeast Division champions. SC United Bantams 2–1. Asheville City 1–0, away, knocking them out of their own tournament. Little Rock Rangers 1–1, won 5–3 on penalties, for a second Southern Conference Championship.
And then a national semifinal, level after a hundred and twenty minutes, lost by one kick.
Four knockout matches. Three won. Two shootouts. Four hundred and eighty minutes of playoff football in ten days.
The furthest this club has been since 2018, and the second time we have reached the last four in the country. No other club in Florida has done it more than once.
To every player: thank you. To everyone who travelled to Asheville and to Newport News, and to everyone who watched from home — thank you.
What a season!
