It was an exciting weekend in Milwaukee as Carpathia participated in their first ever Premier League of America Championship Tournament. The opening round would prove to be a test when facing a Cedar Rapids team who had won the West and were goal scoring machines. “We came up with a plan that the boys stuck to and executed perfectly. We knew that they were going to be a very skilled and talented team and we had to do some honest defending” stated Assistant Coach Marcel Schmid. Carpathia would take a one goal lead from Keaton Levock’s perfectly placed penalty shot. Later on in the game, Cedar Rapids would be awarded a penalty shot and they too would convert from the spot. It would take to the dying minutes of the game when sub Ryan Williams would make the game changer. After defending a free kick, Williams began to make his run as the ball was played into him. He would take on the defender and use the “toe knob” to strike the ball top corner and give Carpathia the lead. The score would remain 2-1 in Carpathia’s favor and see them onto the final on Sunday.
Sunday would prove to be a difficult task against a strong home side, the Milwaukee Bavarian’s. The game would begin quickly when Carpathia would give up a goal just one minute into the game. They would bounce back 20 minutes later and score the equalizer and have the game tied at one a piece. An interesting turn of events happened when the linesmen indicated for a handball moments before the play continued and resulting in a Milwaukee goal. The center ref would over turn the linesmen and award the Bavarian’s the goal and 2-1 lead. “I thought that was a turning point in the game but not the ultimate factor. Sure, the ref gave them the lead but the Bavarian’s are a strong side” stated head Coach Bruce Wilden who was ejected on the ensuing play. Carpathia would go into half time trailing 2-1. The second half seemed to have started the same way the first half did with the Bavarian’s scoring not one but two early goals. The deficit was now 4-1. A lot of fight was shown from a tired Carpathia side that clawed back and brought the game to 4-3 within the last ten minutes. “We had an opportunity to keep pushing and a few great chances to tie the game but just didn’t get the bounces we needed. We gave up the 5th goal pushing for the equalizing goal and left our self vulnerable” stated assistant coach Marcel Schmid.
Carpathia FC would go on to lose the game 5-3. The Milwaukee Bavarian’s were crowned back to back PLA Tournament Champions.
We would like to thank Milwaukee for having us and hosting the tournament and congratulate them on this season’s success.
We look forward to next year.
CFC
