Looking to make it to the USL PRO Championship game, the Richmond Kickers will face Orlando City in the American Division Finals this Saturday, August 27. Kickoff is slated for 7:30 p.m. on USLLive.com from the Florida Citrus Bowl. The winner of Saturday’s match-up will host the USL PRO Championship on Saturday, September 3, live on Fox Soccer Channel.
“Orlando is the class of USL PRO and there are many reasons why they won the Commissioners Cup by nine points,” commented Leigh Cowlishaw, Richmond Kickers Director of Soccer and Head Coach. “I watched their Charleston playoff match and they were mesmerizing. Their movement, interchange of position and precise passing will be difficult to stop. We will need to defend very well, stay compact, disciplined and focused for the entire game.”
“We knew from the first day of preseason that to win a championship we would need to defeat Orlando at the Citrus Bowl,” added Cowlishaw. “It is a daunting task but one we are very much looking forward to.”
The #3 seed Kickers edged the #2 seed Wilmington Hammerheads in the USL PRO American Division Semifinals last week, advancing to the Division Finals 5-4 on penalties. Scoreless for 120 minutes of regulation and overtime, the Kickers converted all five of their penalty kicks before relying on veteran goalkeeper Ronnie Pascale to make a heroic save on the Hammerhead’s fifth attempt to send to the Kickers to the next round.
Top seed Orlando City also needed overtime to move forward, battling the #4 seed Charleston Battery to a 1-1 draw through regulation before Dennis Chin and Lewis Neal tallied a pair of overtime goals to boost Orlando to their first postseason win.
Over the past 19 seasons, Richmond has qualified for postseason play 17 times, and attempts to reach their seventh Championship appearance in the past 10 campaigns. The Kickers fell just short of the USL title last season, falling 2-1 to the Charleston Battery. Richmond's seven previous league Championship appearances (1995, 1996, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009) include winning the Premier League title in 1995, a shoot-out loss to Seattle in the USL First Division final in 2005 and taking the USL Second Division crown twice against Charlotte in 2006 and 2009.
Meanwhile, rookie franchise Orlando are in search of their first league title after claiming the regular season championship this season.
The USL PRO Championship Game’s host will also be determined this weekend, with the winner of the Orlando-Richmond contest earning that honor after both teams finished with better records than their National Division opponents. The USL PRO Championship Game is scheduled for Saturday, September 3 at 7 p.m. and will be aired live on FOX Soccer.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thanks for adding to the Virginia Online Soccer News discussion.