It was Leo De Smedt's night, and not even Mother Nature could ruin it.
De Smedt scored three goals to help Chattanooga Football Club beat the Georgia Revolution 7-0 in an NPSL Southeast Conference West Division match Tuesday at Finley Stadium. The goals were his first this season.
"It was my first hat trick of my life, so it feels really good, especially in front of the fans," De Smedt said. "It was the perfect game for us, 7-0, we needed this win."
After a lightning delay pushed kickoff back 30 minutes, CFC (6-4-4) found itself with the quick lead just 40 seconds after the match began, thanks to a goal by John Carrier.
"When we get on top of teams early, the blood gets pumping and the crowd gets going," CFC coach Bill Elliott said. "It's hard for teams to come back from that."
Another lightning delay suspended action right before the 10-minute mark. Play resumed 30 minutes later, and after a red card was given to Georgia's Marcelle Francois in the 23rd minute, the Revolution was forced to play one man down for the remainder of the match.
"We got on top of them early, and then they got the red card," Elliott said. "I think the game was only going one way from there."
CFC scored three goals in the next seven minutes, with two of those coming from De Smedt.
"He has it in him, he always scores good goals in practice and in training he has done it a lot for us in the past," Elliott said. "He just hasn't really been able to get it going this year, but he had it going tonight."
After halftime, in the 51st minute, De Smedt completed his hat trick and made it 6-0 before Cameron Woodfin added his first goal of the season in the 82nd minute.
After back-to-back losses last week to Memphis City FC and Inter Nashville FC, Chattanooga was in need of a win to keep its playoff hopes alive. Georgia dropped to 0-4-6 with the loss.
"Everybody was really down after the game on Saturday in Nashville," De Smedt said. "We really needed to win, but we lost there, so everyone wanted to win badly tonight."
CFC is now tied for second with Nashville in the standings and holds the tiebreaker, Elliott said. But one more match in the regular season, at FC Carolina United on Saturday, needs to be put in the win column for CFC before anything is certain for the postseason, which starts next Tuesday.
"We really needed this win - especially if we win again on Saturday, then we will come back for the playoff on Tuesday," De Smedt said. "For us, it is really important to play here (at Finley Stadium). It's a huge advantage because of this big crowd and the Chattahooligans."
Contact Tori McElhaney at sports@timesfreepress.com.