SAN DIEGO - The Chattanooga Football Club will play for the National Premier Soccer League championship for the second time in three years.
Chattanooga FC defeated the Bay Area Ambassadors, of Oakland, 3-2 tonight at Del Norte High School, advancing to Sunday's finale (3 p.m. EST) against FC Sonic.
CFC (8-1-3) took a 1-0 in the 11th minute when Phil Beene fired a shot past Bay Area goalkeeper Derek Leslie, off an assist from John Carrier. Beene also was involved in the second goal, about 10 minutes later. This time he assisted on Grant Rardon's header goal that put CFC up 2-0.
Bay Area (10-4-1) had trouble getting many opportunities against CFC's defense and goalkeeper Greg Hartley, but finally got on the scoreboard with about 20 minutes left.
CFC's Luis Trude sealed the win with a late goal, a goal that proved to be huge after the Ambassadors cut the lead to 3-2 in the closing minutes.