Wednesday Double
Two teams kept rolling
Image Credit: USL Championship Twitter
Lower Alabama coverage involved two teams playing on Wed njght that are really on a roll. Unfortunately, Birmingham Legion wasn't one of them. Rhode Island rolled into town with all kinds of former Legion and Birmingham (Holstad is a Birmingham native) connections, and took the win. Inside of the first minute of the game RI took a 1-0 lead. Being behind is a regular occurrence for Bham, so there was no panic. The national viewers saw a very even game throughout the first half, but Legion couldn't quite find a goal. They went into halftime down 0-1. The second half saw no changes in the Bham lineup, and just five minutes into the half, they found an equalizer. The action continued to be even, and then Coach K made a fateful substitution. Former Legion midfielder Zach Heriveaux entered the game in the 67th minute, and promptly scored just one minute later. Nine minutes after that, he scored again. He's a player that spent a year and a half of his post-Legion career recovering from an injury, and was transferred to Rhode Island just a few games ago. That sealed the deal, and Birmingham lost 1-3. The stats ahow an extremely even match in almost all respects. Except for the stat that matters the most (goals). Rhode Island is a new club that started the season with an amazing roster, and has finally found their way.
Image Credit: Columbus United Twitter
The other team on a roll are our friends from the Adjacency. Columbus United went on the road to face Hickory FC in the NPSL playoffs. The winner would move on to the Southern finals. I had this game on stream while I was at the Legion game, so watched it sporadically. CU took an early lead, and looked like they might get to halftime that way. But Hickory scored just before the half ended to make it 1-1. The second half continued to be back an forth. Columbus scored first after about fifteen minutes, and then Hickory answered with about ten minutes remaining. Regular time ended tied up at 2-2. They would stay that way through the first half of overtime. But CU found the net again just two minutes into the second half of overtime. That would be enough, and Columbus won 3-2. The win puts them in the final eight teams of the NPSL playoffs (92 teams in the league). They'll look to keep on rolling on Saturday in the Southern Finals.