Greenville, SC – The Greenville Triumph Soccer Club booked a trip to their third consecutive USL League One Final with a thrilling 2-0 victory in extra time on Saturday night, downing the Chattanooga Red Wolves in Greenville’s first-ever home playoff match. The defending 2020 champions will head to Nebraska to face Union Omaha next Saturday, November 20th at 5:00 PM EST.
After a bye in the first round of the playoffs, Greenville was the betting favorite to start hot against a Chattanooga Red Wolves side that travelled to the Upstate after a grueling extra-time win over North Texas SC in the quarterfinals. It was Chattanooga, though, who came out hot after the opening whistle, controlling possession and tilting the field towards Greenville’s defensive half. The Red Wolves had two chances to score the match’s first goal, as Triumph keeper Paul Christensen had to come off his line to block the ball. On both occasions, Chattanooga had a second-chance opportunity to find the netting, only to see Triumph centerbacks Evan Lee and Brandon Fricke rush in front of the goal to rescue Christensen and keep the match deadlocked.
With the possibility of an additional 30 minutes of play in an elimination match, it seemed likely that head coach John Harkes would keep his substitutions in his pocket as long as he could. That changed midway through the first half, when forward Lachlan McLean had to be subbed out after an injury. Jesus Ibarra was called on to replace McLean, and his substitution was the catalyst that eventually swung the match.
Ibarra’s play and the halftime break pulled the match more even for Greenville, as both teams played on without many clean chances on goal. As the whistle blew at the 90-minute mark and the playoff semifinal headed to extra time, the circumstances seemed to favor a Chattanooga squad known for a bevy of late match-winning goals in 2021. For Greenville, though, the extra time was an opportunity to finish the season unbeaten over the Red Wolves and earn a familiar trip back to a League One Final.
Ibarra became too much for Chattanooga to deal with in the 97th minute, when he collected a ball at the top of the box and ripped a shot past Chattanooga keeper Tim Trilk to put the Triumph up 1-0. Knowing they couldn’t let up with twenty minutes left, Greenville pressed on in the second half of extra time. In the 111th minute, the Triumph erased any remaining doubt after Marios Lomis turned two brilliant passes from subs Nico Brown and Andrew Booth into the club’s second goal. Greenville rode the hallmark of their late season push, lockdown defense, to the final whistle to collect the semifinal win and book their ticket to another championship match.
“The guys knew that this (Chattanooga) team has scored more goals in the last 15 minutes of games throughout the year than any other club in the league,” said head coach John Harkes, “So we were very aware of that and we wanted to make sure that we put ourselves in position to get the first goal, and we could fight all the way through. Being patient with the ball in the end of extra time was going to be important, so the second goal was really great to take some of the pressure off at the end.”
Greenville’s victory marked their second playoff win in team history, and set them up a rematch of the COVID-cancelled 2020 League One Final with Omaha. Triumph SC will look for a second consecutive League One Title on the road at Omaha next Saturday, November 20th at 5:00 PM EST.