WEEKEND RESULTS
Through Sunday July 14
Birmingham Legion
Legion hosted Colorado Springs Switchbacks for their only meeting this season. It was Alabama-hot and humid, with almost no breeze, generating an orange alert for poor air quality. There's no way for the Switchbacks to train for something like that in the dry air out west. Legion saw several players come back from nagging injuries, but two more were unavailable. The Legion team that took the field hadn't all played together in almost a month, and they were very much out of synch when the game started. CS put an early chance into the back of the net, and took a 1-0 lead. From that point on, Legion seemed to settle in. The game was very even, back and forth. On the last action before halftime, Bham's Kobe Hernandez-Foster blasted a missile at goal from long range. The keeper stopped the shot, but wasn't able to control it, and Dawson McCartney put the rebound into the top of the goal to even the score at 1-1. The second half played out much like most of the first half. The possession was even, but Legion had more chances. In the 85th minute, Legion got their second goal. It was a repeat of the first, but with different players (shot, rebound, putaway). The CS keeper had the opportunity to control both Bham goals, but let them get away from him, and Legion got the win 2-1. The crowd was certainly affected by the heat, but looked to be larger than the most recent two homes games. Best guess is 2500-3000. 16 year-old academy player Ramiz Hamouda got some quality minutes, and is starting to show his growth.
USL2
Dothan United played their last game of the season at home in front of a big crowd of enthusiastic supporters. Southern Soccer Academy got the first goal just three minutes in, putting the Dragons on their heels. SSA got two more first half goals, and led 3-0 at halftime. In the second half Dothan came out with a hard push to try to get back into the game. They scored early in the half, and got another quickly after that one. The crowd came to life as well and helped to push them along until they got an equalizer late in the game. That's how it ended, in a 3-3 draw. The video posted on the Dothan United Facebook page has a great shot of the crowd (looked like it was close to 5000) celebrating one of the goals. The Dragons finish their first season 4-4-4.
GCPL Playoffs
Image credit: GCPL Facebook
Alabama FC South
The Storm hosted LA Krewe for their first round playoff match. This game was a battle throughout. Neither side could gain the upper hand, and regular time ended tied at 0-0. At the beginning of the first overtime period ALFCS found the goal that they needed. From there, they had to hold on for another 29 minutes of gameplay to come away with a 1-0 win. They will move on to face the 2023 Champion Southern States on the road for round two in Hattiesburg, MS.
Union 10
Union 10 were on the road to face Gulf Coast United. The Mobile, AL squad jumped out to an early lead, and looked to have the game well in hand with a 3-0 advantage at halftime. But GCU wasn't going to go quietly. They changed up their gameplan and dominated the second half. Regular time ended with the score knotted up 3-3. At the very beginning of overtime, Union 10 found the goal. They had to ride out the rest of overtime, and both teams finished with only ten men. Union held on to win 4-3. Union 10 came into the playoffs as a three seed. The fates are with them, and top-seeded Sowegans were upset by Gaffa. That means Union will be the home team for their second round match.
If both ALFCS and Union 10 can win on July 20, they'll face off in the GCPL championship game.
The Adjacency
Jacksonville Armada led their conference throughout the season, and Columbus United paid a visit seeking to claim the Gulf Coast Sunshine Conference Championship. While Columbus faced most of the teams in their conference twice during the regular season, this was the first match against Jacksonville. The Armada got the first goal, and United was able to getban equalizer just before halftime. CU carried that momentum throughout the rest of the game. Columbus got two more in the second half, and kept Armada in check. Columbus gets their first trophy, winning 3-1. They will play the next round of the playoffs on Wed July 17 against Hickory FC. Hickory knocked of Appalachian (another Hitchcock club) to take that conference title.