GEORGIA REVOLUTION FC 2 SODA CITY FC 2

Soda City’s drive to the championship was a clear path: a win against Georgia Revolution and they would be in the final. With the hardest game out of the way, Georgia Revolution looked to take some points in this game and had a different look to its starting lineup. William and John Eskay both got the start on the offensive side, while wonderstriker Todd Fidler was not in the starting lineup for the Revs (much to the disappointment of Dan Creel and yours truly).

The first fifteen minutes was an even trading of possession, until Soda City’s captain Hunter Haynes went down with an injury and had to be replaced. The Revs controlled possession much of the half after that point, while Soda City was content to absorb the pressure. Youngster Noel Elder would push up from his left back position for the Revs and into the offensive side more – something that would play a factor in the final result (a little foreshadowing here).

The half ended without a goal being scored, but you just had the feeling that goals were coming. And did they ever.

It was Soda City who dictated the pace early in the second half, pushing the ball forward with the most offensive urgency seen by them so far in the tournament. And the efforts would be rewarded in the 55th minute when Graham Jermstad stole a chested back pass that went astray and was brought down in the box by the Revs’ Jake Mathis for a clear penalty. Jermstad would convert from the spot, and Soda City had a lead.

But the Revs were not done. At the 68th minute, young Elder would take a pass at the left corner of the 18 and push two Soda City players to go after him, taking him down and giving the Revs their own chance from the penalty spot. Forward Ryan King went far right and calmly tied the game up at 1-1.

Image courtesy of Chattanooga FC Social Media.

In the 82bd minute, the sound was lost during the live stream – right before one amazing goals was scored. From about 25 yards out, Soda City took a free kick and whipped it in to the 18 to Graham Jermstad, who took the ball off one bounce off his chest, then with his back to goal booted the ball with his left foot over his left shoulder and just inside the upper right corner of the net. Wow! Surely this would be the goal that would send Soda City to the championship!

But then – oh no…poor Henry Kohel.

The Soda City defender, running back towards his goal on a headed ball from the Revs, mis-kicked and sent the ball even closer to goal. The Revs’ Ryan King caught up with it, and lofted a shot over a helpless Jack Pondy right at the 86th minute. A gut punch of a goal. The score was level once again.

The last six minutes (and extra time) were helter skelter, with minds and hearts willing to make one more push but tired legs giving out. The final whistle sounded, and Georgia Revolution were alive for another week. For Soda City, so close to punching their ticket to the championship, they now have to come home to face Chattanooga FC knowing that they may still need a result.

CHATTANOOGA FC 3 SAVANNAH CLOVERS 0

The favored CFC looked the part in taking care of Georgia Revolution last week. Would it be more of the same again the Clovers? In a word, yes.

Chattanooga would follow the script from last week and score early. In the 11th minute, Ryan Marcano, who was a substitute in last week’s game, took a pass in stride to the right of goal, drove hard towards the keeper, then zipped in pass in front to goal to a charging Brain Bement who drilled it first time past the keeper.

Just a mere five minutes later, Ian McGrath would find himself at the top of the 18 after some nice one-touch passing and sent a low, driving ball past a ‘where did that come from’-looking J.W. May for the second goal. It was not a good look for May and the Clovers team as a whole, as they seemed frozen and caught off guard by the sequence. Sixteen minutes in, and CFC was in change with a 2-0 lead.

Would Savannah respond? Well, the response was to not press and push the offense. Chattanooga had no trouble moving the ball up the field, and the Clovers kept Timo Mesa alone up front and struggled to get any kind of service. The half ended 2-0, and without a sense of urgency from Savannah.

At the 52nd minute a terrible back pass by Savannah from midfield was intercepted by Kalib Jackson, who drove past the one defender in his path and sent a shot through the legs of the ‘keeper. It was 3-0, and CFC were well on their way to clinching a spot in the region’s championship game.

It would not be until the 75th minute did Savannah bring on another offensive player and attempted to push forward. But the result seemed too little, too late. Things did get a little testy in the final minutes of the game with multiple incidents that would eventually bring out the red card for each team from pushing and shoving. Maybe Savannah could have brought that fire earlier in the game.

And so Chattanooga, to the surprise of no one, has made it to the championship game regardless of its final game against Soda City his coming weekend. For Savannah, now eliminated, they have one last opportunity to showcase its club and a chance to play spoiler against the Georgia Revolution.