Lionsbridge FC had won its past six home playoff matches, but the Lions never had encountered an offense like Seacoast United’s.
The bright-yellow-clad Phantoms from Epping, New Hampshire, disappointed Lionsbridge’s latest large home crowd, ousting the Lions from the USL League Two playoffs with a wild 6-3 triumph Friday night in Newport News.
The game doubled as the Eastern Conference championship contest and a national quarterfinal. Seacoast (16-1), ranked second nationally according to the league website before the 35-team playoffs began, earned the right to return to Christopher Newport’s TowneBank Stadium at 7:30 p.m. Sunday for a semifinal against top-ranked Asheville City FC.
Lionsbridge (15-2-4 in all competitions) had been on a 15-match unbeaten streak. The Lions, national runners-up last season, made the playoffs for the fourth consecutive year, the past three as Chesapeake Division champions.
Asheville’s Blues overcame No. 9 Corpus Christi SC of Texas 1-0 in Friday’s first match, the Southern Conference final. In the 35th minute, the Blues’ Niall Reid-Stephen made a crossing pass from the left side, and Izaiah Vignali volleyed it past the Sharks’ goalkeeper for the match’s only goal.
The second match brought way more excitement, but also frustration for Lionsbridge and its cadre of fans. Coach Chris Whalley’s Lions, ranked 10th before they won a pair of home playoff matches last weekend, hadn’t given up more than two goals in a match all season, but Seacoast tripled that total. Both teams recorded 11 shots.
Ibrahim Conde opened the scoring in the ninth minute. Lionsbridge’s Claudel N’goubou tied the score at 1 in the 23rd, finishing a passing sequence with Matthew Kirk.
Terry Makedika put the Phantoms ahead 2-1 in the 31st minute, only to see Jasper Winslow bring the hosts even at 2 by netting a long-distance goal from the right side in the 38th.
Zemedkun Rodriguez’s goal in the 42nd minute gave the Phantoms a 3-2 halftime edge, and Marco dos Santos made it 4-2 in the 56th.
Lionsbridge rallied once more, with Denis Krioutchenkov scoring off a Sam Hall assist in the 76th minute. But Seacoast ensured the victory with goals by Conde in the 78th and Taig Healy in the 82nd.
