Velasquez’s go-ahead goal in second half keys 2-1 win for Triumph in relocated match.
Clemson, SC (October 5, 2024) – The Greenville Triumph SC defeated Lexington SC 2-1 on Saturday, clinching its sixth straight USL League One Playoff berth after a go-ahead goal by Greenville native Sebastian Velasquez in the second half. Due to the aftermath of Hurricane Helene and ongoing outages, Saturday’s match was held at Clemson University’s Historic Riggs Field without fans in attendance. Velasquez’s goal proved the difference after Greenville erased an early 1-0 deficit on an own goal from Lexington after pressure from Triumph forward Leo Castro.
Greenville came out with high energy and a strong offensive attack on Clemson’s grass field, a change of surface from the club’s usual turf at Furman’s Paladin Stadium. Midway through the half, Leo Castro made a diving effort to score a go- ahead goal, just for it to be called offside. Ten minutes later, an unlucky deflection off a Lexington header in the six-yard box resulted in an own goal from Jamie Smith. Unable to equalize before the halfway point, Lexington led 1-0 at the break.
Within minutes of returning to the pitch, Greenville’s luck began to change. In the 46th minute, Leo Castro reclaimed his earlier goal when his shot deflected off Lexington for an own goal. Then in the 51st minute, in a masterful display of technique, Sebastian Velasquez received and turned the ball to release a shot into the left upper 90 for a highlight-reel score. Greenville maintained its 2-1 lead for the final 39 minutes despite increased physicality in the match’s waning moments. After seven minutes of stoppage time, the Triumph sealed the win and extended the league’s longest consecutive streak of playoff berths to six seasons.
Getting the win and the playoff berth was massive,” said head coach Rick Wright. “This was a home game technically, but coming to a facility [Historic Riggs Field] was part of the guys’ motivation today. They showed they are warriors to go down a goal but keep our composure and come back to get two spectacular goals and fight through a grueling finish to get the result.”
With the win, the Greenville Triumph moved to third in league standings with a 9-6-4 record. The club will travel to Spokane, Washington next Saturday to face the Spokane Velocity. The club returns home Saturday, October 26th, for the regular season finale against South Georgia Tormenta FC.
Quotes:
Brandon Fricke, defender, on clinching a sixth straight playoff berth: six playoff appearance: “It shows the reward of the work the group has put in over the year. We’ve kind of gone through a tough stretch lately, so to get playoffs clinched is really big for us and now we want to obviously go and chase as high a finish as possible. We’ve got three matches left to do that, so there’s more work to do but obviously we’re happy to be back in the playoffs again.”
Sebastian Velasquez, forward, on his go-ahead goal: “It was a special moment because we were obviously down in the match but had just scored our first on a beautiful effort from Leo [Castro]. We needed it as a team and it’s more about the guys than it is about me. I honestly just took a touch – I had been getting a couple of great goals that training this week – and Rick told me just hit it outside the box. I hit it and I think the rest was history. It went top net and now we’re in playoffs and that’s the most important thing.”
