It was only a matter of time.
After spending a half knocking on the door of a goal against the Maryland Bays in Friday evening's Steinbrecher Cup semifinals, the Chattanooga Football Club scored twice in the second half for a 2-0 victory in front of 2,005 fans at Finley Stadium.
CFC (6-1) will face the Michigan Bucks -- who defeated the New York Greek Americans 1-0 in the other semifinal -- in the championship match at 7:30 tonight. The Greek Americans and Bays will play in the consolation match at 5 p.m.
CFC's goals came from Luis Trude and John Davidson, who was a late addition to the 18-man roster for the Steinbrecher Cup after defender Jordan Dunstan suffered a knee injury in Wednesday's loss to the Atlanta Silverbacks.
Chattanooga Football Club's Samuel Goni and Atlanta Silverbacks' Chris Christian Wednesday at Finley Stadium.Both goals were the result of work between teammates, a point of emphasis after the coaching staff felt some chances were squandered in the first half due to selfishness. Leo De Smedt had some good footwork down the left sideline, sending a cross into Trude, who finished off the first goal in the 53rd minute.
Luke Winter did some work on the right sideline and put a cross in that Davidson finished in the 74th minute for the final goal.
"We knew we needed to win this game in front of this amazing crowd," De Smedt said. "We knew we were better at halftime, and we talked to each other about going forward and getting some chances that we could take advantage of."
Despite playing four matches in eight days, the club isn't as tired as it might have been in years past due to some quality depth added in the preseason. That's given the club the opportunity to rest players and not overwork anybody.
"We needed extra depth and a deeper roster because we were playing extra games," CFC coach Bill Elliott said. "We thought it would pay off and it did; you could see we had fresher legs, while the other team was probably running out of gas."
After tonight, CFC won't play again until an away match in New Orleans on June 6, so there will be rest on the horizon for the entire club -- time to lick wounds and for most injured players to heal before the conference season kicks into full gear.
Still, tonight's match matters because the title of "best amateur team in America" is on the line.
"They're a good team," Elliott said of the Bucks. "These are the two teams that should be playing for the national championship of amateur soccer. They're a fantastic organization and have been for years, but we've done well for ourselves.
"The fans will be in for a treat if they make it out."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him at twitter.com/genehenleytfp.