Legion FC Falls to Pittsburgh on Penalties After 2-2 Draw in a Heart-Breaking, Rollercoaster Home Playoff Match
October 23, 2022 – United Soccer League Championship (USL) – Birmingham Legion FC News Release
BIRMINGHAM, AL – In a shocking, adrenaline-filled match, Birmingham Legion FC’s season ends in the USL Championship Playoffs First Round with a loss versus the Pittsburgh Riverhounds after extra time and penalty kicks. Legion opened the scoring first with Prosper Kasim scoring a header from a freekick. Pittsburgh’s Edward Kizza equalized for the Hounds in the 90th minute. Birmingham had the lead again in extra time, with Bruno Lapa scoring to bring us up 2-1, but Kizza would score again in the 116th minute to bring the match to penalty kicks where the Riverhounds prevailed 8-7.
Prosper Kasim — like he does — made Legion history by scoring the club’s first ever home playoff goal. On a ser piece routine straight from the training ground, a beautiful ball from forward Juan Agudelo met the head of Kasim who followed with a looping, pin-point header into the top corner.
The first of many heartbreaks on the night came in the 90th minute, as Pittsburgh’s Kizza scored by heading in a cross from midfielder Robbie Mertz, tying things up 38 seconds after coming on as a substitute.
The Three Sparks scored first in extra time in the 99th minute. Veteran Legionnaire Mikey Lopez found Lapa in the middle of the box, who cleanly curved it past the keeper with an expert finish.
The second heartbreak for Legion fans came in the 116th minute, when Kizza scored his second goal of the match to take the game into a penalty shootout. The Riverhounds forced a turnover, then as midfielder Zack Herivaux was going to attempt to make a play on the ball and slow the Pittsburgh counterattack, he collided with the referee. Both Herivaux and the referee would later need to be removed from the match with head injuries, yet play was not stopped en route to Pittsburgh scoring the game-tying goal seconds later.
The Iron City-Steel City penalty kick shootout was also filled with drama and heartbreak for the home side. Birmingham went down by two thanks to Pittsburgh’s goalkeeper Kevin Silva making back-to-back saves to open the shootout, and then Birmingham came level thanks to Legion goalkeeper Trevor Spangenberg making two huge back-to-back saves of his own on the fourth and fifth PIT penalty to get his side back in it. Sudden death occurred until the ninth penalty, when Kizza scored the game-winning PK after Legion missed its third of the contest.
“Anytime there’s a head injury it’s supposed to stop play immediately,” said Head Coach Tommy Soehn when asked about the controversy surrounding the second Pittsburgh goal. “Unfortunately, one of our guys went down, the guy closest to make the play, so it’s disappointing. The evening had a great atmosphere, but this one’s going to sting. I do give our guys a lot of credit for the season they put in, and even tonight we dominated. Unfortunately, it just didn’t go our way.
[The atmosphere] was amazing out there tonight. I think our guys wanted it so bad for our fans because to see them out there like they were kind of gave you chills. We’re growing the fanbase and it was incredible to play for them tonight. I mean, we have been [growing] for four years now, and its local ownership that cares a lot about the city, and we’ll continue to do our thing to make sure we give the fans all something to cheer for. It’s a great city to be in and look at tonight – [The crowd] was amazing.”
Box Score:
1st Half 2nd Half ET PENS BHM 0 1 1 7 PIT 0 1 1 8
Goals: BHM – 72′ – #10 Prosper Kasim (assisted by #99 Juan Agudelo) PIT – 90′ – #17 Edward Kizza (assisted by #14 Robbie Mertz) BHM – 99′ – #8 Bruno Lapa (assisted by #5 Mikey Lopez) PIT – 116′ – #17 Edward Kizza (assisted by #8 William Ewang)
Penalties: BIRMINGHAM – 7/10 PITTSBURGH – 8/10
1. #21 Alex Crognale – Saved by Waite
1. #16 Toby Sims – Scored
1. #8 Bruno Lapa – Saved by Waite
1. #12 Danny Griffin – Scored
1. #24 Jonny Dean – Scored
1. #9 Albert Dikwa – Scored
1. #7 Ryan James – Scored
1. #10 Russell Cicerone – Saved by Spangenberg
1. #10 Enzo Martinez – Scored
1. #8 William Eyang – Saved by Spangenberg
1. #29 Sadik Balarabe – Scored
1. #18 Marc Ybarra – Scored
1. #13 Jake Rufe – Scored
1. #15 Arturo Ordonez – Scored
1. #5 Mikey Lopez – Scored
1. #6 Angelo Kelly – Scored
1. #3 Phanuel Kavita – Scored
1. #27 Jelani Peters – Scored
1. #25 Grayson Dupont – Saved by Waite
1. #17 Edward Kizza – Scored
BHM – 4-3-3 – #1 Matt VanOekel; #24 Jonny Dean, #21 Alex Crognale, #3 Phanuel Kavita ©, #13 Jake Rufe; #20 Zach Herivaux, #6 Anderson Asiedu (85′ – #8 Bruno Lapa), #19 Enzo Martinez; #11 Marlon Santos (70′ – #29 Sadik Balarabe), #99 Juan Agudelo (85′ – #7 Ryan James), #10 Prosper Kasim (80′ – #5 Mikey Lopez)
PIT – 4-5-1 – #26 Jahmali Waite; #4 Dani Rovira, #5 Mekeil Williams, #15 Arturo Ordonez, #3 Shane Wiedt; #11 Kenardo Forbes, #12 Daniel Griffin, #7 Alex Dixon, #14 Robbie Mertz, #10 Russell Cicerone; #9 Albert Dikwa
For team updates, news and more, follow @bhmlegion on social media, sign up for Legion FC’s Newsletter, or visit bhmlegion.com. The Legion FC app is also available for download via Apple or Android.
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