Union 10 FC gets a last-minute equalizer, wins LfC Gulf Coast title in a PK shootout
U10 will play for the South Region final and will host Texas Conference champion FC Dallas U23 with a trip to The League for Cups first national finals on the line.
Pensacola FC was minutes from winning a conference championship Sunday at Ashton Brosnaham Stadium, leading 1-0 with stoppage time winding down. Then victory slipped away.
CREDIT: Pensacola Football Club
Alej Binaghi (University of Mobile) scored on a Union 10 FC corner in the fifth added minute, and the match ended knotted at 1-1. The exhausted teams played two 15-minute extra-time periods without scoring, and Union prevailed 4-2 in a penalty shootout.
Alej Binaghi, an Argentinian midfielder who won the 2021 NAIA Player of the Year award while playing at the University of Mobile, scored a stoppage-time equalizer and made the deciding kick in a penalty shootout to give Union 10 FC a 1(4)-1(2) win Sunday against Pensacola FC in The League for Clubs Gulf Coast Conference championship match. CREDIT: La Nacion
Just like that, the Daphne, Ala.-based team claimed the first The League for Clubs Gulf Coast Conference championship, and the host Pelicans’ season was over.
Union 10 FC (11-1-0) will host FC Dallas U23 at 5:15 p.m. Sunday at Village Park in Daphne for the South Region championship; the winner will advance to the national finals in the Dallas-Fort Worth area with semifinals July 25 and the championship and third place matches July 27.
Pensacola, the conference’s East Division winner, finished the season 10-2-0.
PFC Coach Dean Logan said the Pelicans will be haunted by missed opportunities throughout the match that might have changed the outcome.
“The goalkeeper (Sam MacDonald, University of Mobile)) made some wonderful saves that kept them in the game,” Logan said. “I thought that we created lots of chances but were unable to convert…. We hit the post twice, and had some easy chances that we just couldn’t put in.”
Axel Gravel plays for Georgia Southwestern State University in Americus. CREDIT: Georgia Southwestern
Axel Gravel (Georgia Southwestern University) put Pensacola ahead with a 30-yard blast in the 70th minute, the sixth score of the season for the midfielder from Dijon, France. That was the score into stoppage time when Binaghi found himself unchecked on the left side of the goal with a corner kick coming in from the right; he headed the ball in a gentle arc just over the outstretched glove of Pelicans’ goalie Gabriel Mendoza (Concordia University of Nebraska), sending the equalizer softly into the net.
It was a crucial lapse for Pensacola FC, which had allowed just five goals in its first 11 matches.
“One objective for the players is to win their individual duels,” Logan said. “We haven’t given up many goals this season due to that. In that moment, we didn’t get organized quick enough, and the opposition capitalized on it.”
Officially, the match ended in a 1-1 draw after extra time. In knockout play, victors are decided by a penalty kick shootout, with players from each team taking shots from the penalty spot against the opposing team’s keeper. The shootout is organized in sets of five turns for each team and continues until it is a mathematical impossibility for one team to catch the other.
The tiebreaker was the Pelicans’ first experience in a shootout.
“This was something new for us,” Logan said. “Credit to the guys who stepped up in that pressure moment. Once it gets to that stage, you just have to hope everyone executes. Unfortunately, we were unable to convert all ours.”
Union 10 FC goalkeeper Sam MacDonald made several outstanding blocks against Pensacola FC on Sunday, including one during the penalty shootout that decided the outcome. CREDIT: University of Mobile
Pensacola went first. Retsin Kabambala scored his kick, and Union’s Jeb Scarbrough’s successful attempt evened the score. Then MacDonald, the U10 goalie, threw himself to his right to block Sebastian Ruiz-Hurst’s shot and John Finlay gave Union the lead with his kick. Anthony Ciccarello pulled the Pelicans even and Calum Kearney struck true for the Alabama team.
On Pensacola’s fourth try, Rodrigo Bacci sailed his shot over the left side of the crossbar, leaving PFC trailing 2-3. Binaghi buried Union’s fourth shot, giving the East Division champions an insurmountable 4-2 lead and claiming the Gulf Coast Conference crown for the visitors.
Logan said the club will be announcing team awards on its social media over the coming days while players turn their attention to other pursuits.
“Some guys will head back home to their families to spend some time with them (after) having been away for three months; it’s really important that they get that time” before reporting to their college teams, Logan said. Area players will continue to train on their own to prepare for the upcoming college season.
It could take a while to decide the awards, according to the fifth-year coach.
“It will be hard to pick those for sure. Our guys were tremendous for us this season,” he said.
“I am really happy of our accomplishments this season,” he added. “First time being crowned (division) champions and retaining the 850 Cup trophy. Only conceding six goals all season while scoring 41 in 12 games. That is a remarkable achievement.
“For the fans that came out, we hope that they were entertained,” Logan continued. “As always, we will continue to get better with the plans in store for soccer in the Pensacola area.”