Western Mass Pioneers Need Extra Time to Win In Preliminary Playoff Round
An 85th-minute penalty scored by Alec Hughes sparked the comeback.
The Western Mass Pioneers came back against Motown FC STA to win 3-1 in the preliminary round of the USL League 2 playoffs.
Ali Taleb sealed the victory with a 115th-minute go-ahead goal following a run from Lawrence Goddard.
Motown opened the scoring in the 11th minute as right-back Maximus Jennings crossed the ball and winger Jason Bouregy settled the ball in the box. The winger then placed the ball into the top corner of Gianluca Cersosimo’s goal.
Down 1-0, the Pioneers went forward at every chance and took the front foot of the match.
In the 15th minute, Alec Hughes drove into the left corner of the Motown box and put in a cross. Mamadi Jiana got onto the end of the pass, but the ball deflected on a Motown defender’s lower arm.
As Pioneers’ players crowded the referee, the official spoke to his assistant and then communicated his decision to play to both head coaches.
Jiana and Hughes continued to create chances for the Pioneers, but they couldn’t beat Motown goalkeeper Ryan Friedberg.
As the Pioneers chased the game toward the end of the first half, Motown dropped back looking to counter with long balls.
In the second half, the Pioneers looked to equalize but to no avail. Pioneers forward Scott Testori took two shots in the first 15 minutes of the second half but missed both.
In the 75th minute, Jiana fell outside the 18-yard box following a heavy challenge. Aiden Kelly stepped over the free-kick and whipped the ball onto Hughes’ head. The striker uncharacteristically headed the ball over the goal from within the 6-yard box.
As time seemed to defy the Pioneers, Kelly got to the byline in the 82nd minute and put in a low cross. As Hughes got onto the end of the pass, he stumbled on a Motown defender’s tackle. This time, the referee blew his whistle and called a penalty for the Pioneers.
Hughes stepped up and buried the penalty, sending the goalie in the wrong direction.
At the end of stoppage time, the referee called for extra time to decide the game.
The Pioneers continued their momentum keeping most of the ball, but the Motown bench all stood up in the 95th minute as they asked for a penalty on Kerman Sukia's challenge. The referee signaled that Sukia got the ball and called to play on.
In the 112th minute, Sukia went down after dueling a Motown striker for a ball in the air. The striker appeared to hit Sukia as they fell causing the Spanish center back to be visibly upset. The referee continued play until a throw-in, when he decided to check in with his assistant who stood right next to the clash when it happened. After speaking, the referee drew out his red card leaving Motown to 10 men.
Three minutes later Goddard drove forward after beating a defender and placed a pass into the box. Ali Taleb, who came on for Testori earlier, settled the ball and tucked it past Friedberg to seal the game.
Down a man, Motown struggled to push back into the game in the second half of extra time.
Friedberg ventured to the Pioneers box for a corner kick in the 120th minute. However, the Pioneers cleared it and Jiana hit a 70-yard dash to reach the Motown goal uncontested and score the Pioneers third goal of the night.
The Pioneers will head down to Virginia to play Lionsbridge FC on July 19th at 7:30 p.m. in the first round of the playoffs.