Wolves do it! Ludlow, MA ˆ The Connecticut Wolves beat the Western Mass Pioneers 3-2 to advance to the Northern Conference Semi-finals as Carlos Sousa scored the game-winner in the 89th minute. The match was not one of the prettier matches, with fouls being called on both sides. In the 40th minute the Wolves Dahir Mohammed fouled the Pioneers‚ Mark Manganello just outside the penalty area and near the sideline. Richard Stimpson free kick was whipped into the area, and it deflected off a Wolves‚ defender and Manganello blasted it into the roof of the net. The Wolves had been dangerous on their set pieces earlier in the match, and in the 44th minute Shane Watkins‚ free kick found a diving Dahir Mohammed, who flicked the header past a diving Pioneers Danny Pires to equalize the match at 1-1 going into halftime. The Wolves came out with a purpose, and in the 49th minute Dean Sewell picked out Roger Kennedy who rose up to beat two Western Mass defenders and lofted the header just under the crossbar to give the Wolves a 2-1 lead. At this point in the match it did not matter if the Pioneers scored 2 goals, the Wolves would need three goals to have a chance at advancing. Just a minute later James Proctor played a cross into the Wolves area, and the ball appeared to be chested by Dean Sewell. Referee John Collins saw a hand ball and awarded a penalty kick for Western Mass. Wolves‚ Sewell and Sullivan Phillips were both cautioned in the action that followed. Pioneer captain Paul Kelly stepped up and blasted the shot down the middle as Wolves Anthony Latronica dove to his right. With the score even at 2-2 the only thing that would matter was the third goal. The match had a very physical tone, with Wolves defender Steve Danbusky needing to get treatment twice during the match for a cut above his eye, but Danbusky valiantly returned to marshall the central defense for the Wolves. The Wolves kept the pressure on Pires in the Western Mass goal amassing ten corner kicks in the match, and on one opportunity JT Dorsey bounced a header off the ground and it bounced over Pires and hit the crossbar, but was cleared again by the Pioneers defense. In the 89th minute the Pioneers were pressing in the Wolves end, but the play was broken up by the Wolves defense and the Wolves counter-attack was lead by Daniel Asencio who found an unmarked Carlos Sousa on the back post. Sousa controlled the ball and calmly slotted the ball past Pires to give the Wolves the 3-2 lead, which the Wolves made stand up after 4 minutes of added time. Sousa‚s goal was his team-leading 9th on the season. Wolves: Latronica, Sewell, Danbusky, Mohammed, Dorsey (Peart 75) Phillips, Asencio, Ravanello, Watkins, Kennedy (O‚Toole 90), Sousa (Lilburn 90) Pioneers: Pires, Miller, Houser, Kelly, Dias, Samol, Proctor, Levesque (Streibel 72), Stimpson, Jachym (DeCastro 58), Manganello (Perez 88) Scoring Summary: 40th Wmass Manganello 44th Wolves Mohammed (Watkins) 1st goal of season 49th Wolves Kennedy (Sewell) 3rd goal of season 50th Wmass Kelly (PK) 89th Wolves Sousa (Asencio) 9th goal of season. Attendance: 3,414
Sorry, I need a little help with this one. If someone could explain, I would appreciate it. 1st Leg: Western Mass (2) Connecticut (0) 2nd Leg: Western Mass (2) Connecticut (3) Total: Western Mass 4 - Connecticut 3 How does CT advance in this scenario? In school I learned that 4 is greater than 3, but I want to make sure. I assume there is some kind of bonus pt. involved, but how does it work?
USL Point system 4 points for a win 1 Bonus point for scoring 3 goals in a match. WMass 2 Wolves 0 - W Mass gets 4 points Wolves 3 WMass 2 - Wolves get 4 points PLUS the bonus point. Wolves 5 W Mass 4
BTW, 3-2 for Connecticut was the ONLY result which would've given a different result under this system than normal aggregate scoring.
Thanks for the info folks. I was thinking in terms of a normal aggregate score. Why I was thinking like that I do not know, this is the USL. Should be a good game for the weekend. Riders have been playing very well as of late.