It was a great day to be a Carpathia fan Saturday night at Royal Oak High School. CFC had a lot to play for with a chance of making it into the playoffs. With Muskegon and Toledo playing earlier in the night, Carpathia knew what would have to be done. Coming in facing an always difficult Oakland County FC team would be a challenge in it’s self getting all three points. In order for Carpathia FC to move on, Muskegon and Toledo would have to tie and Carpathia would have to win by 4 goals. Things didn’t start off they way CFC had intended. Toledo Villa FC went into half with a 1-0 lead over Muskegon and it would be Oakland who would open the scoring 10 minutes into the game. A determined Carpathia didn’t let the minor slip up affect Head Coach Bruce Wilden’s game plan. It would only take a few minutes to find the equalizer after a miscommunication between OCFC’s defender and goalkeeper. It then seemed as if the flood gates opened and CFC started pouring in the goals. CFC would go into half time with a 5-1 lead. With the 4 goal lead, Toledo still led Muskegon 1-0. It would be the dying minutes of the Muskegon and Toledo game when Toledo would find the equalizer and tie the game at 1 a piece. This news came right after OCFC scored their second and final goal of the night. The lead was now only three. Once again CFC would bounce back off a corner kick and clean up the bouncing ball and regain the 4 goal lead. CFC would make tactical changes and defend brilliantly to help keep the 4 goal cushion and see them finishing into second place of the PLA East. We met up with Head Coach Bruce Wilden to get his thoughts on the game: “Given the scenario, this was one of the most exciting soccer games I have ever been apart of. We had a tough task ahead of us and got some luck from the Muskegon and Toledo game but sometimes that’s what happens in sports. We deserve to be in the playoff and look forward to travelling to Milwaukee. We had a great game plan and the boys stuck to it and earned the three points and 4 goal margin of victory. We hope to bring home the hardware this weekend”.
This is Carpathia FC’s first PLA Playoff appearance in club history. Carpathia finished second in the PLA with a record of 6-4 and 18 points. CFC will travel to Milwaukee this weekend to take on Cedar Rapids Saturday, July 29th at 7:30 PM. All games will be lived stream as well as live updates on Facebook and Twitter. We look forward to our first ever playoff appearance!
CFC
