Samuel Goni’s flying feet may have saved the Chattanooga Football Club’s hopes of winning the National Premier Soccer League championship.
Or maybe it was his head. Either way, the speedy Spaniard’s header with just over a minute to play in regulation Saturday night lifted the Chattanooga FC to a thrilling 2-1 win over Memphis City at a rowdy Finley Stadium.
CFC will host the next round of the NPSL playoffs next Saturday after winning the Southeastern title in a game that was closer than the home folks wanted, or coach Bill Elliott.
“We felt through the first 65 minutes we should have put some distance between ourselves and them, but we didn’t,” said Elliott, whose team outshot the visitors 9-1 in the first half. “Give them credit, though, for having the quality to get themselves back in the game. We didn’t think it would be easy.”
After Luke Parker’s rebound goal for Memphis after a Greg Hartley diving save tied the game at 1 in the 73rd minute, the game appeared headed for extra time until Goni and Zeca Ferraz worked some magic.
Ferraz, seeing Goni separate from his defender, lifted a pass toward the left side of the goal that appeared to be too strong. Goni, however, turned on the jets, lifted upward and hit a perfect header past stunned Memphis keeper Umberto Calais.
“I knew he was going to put it there, and I believed I was going to get to it and score and win,” Goni said between slaps on the back from his teammates afterward. “We knew we had to keep going. They are a good team and they played good tonight. We knew what we had to do to come back and win.”
Added Elliott of the winner: “It was a great ball served into the back post. We used our pace and fresh legs to get on the end of it. It didn’t look like he could get there, but he did and it was a great goal.”
Chattanooga had taken a 1-0 lead near the midway mark of the first half when Luke Winter beat Calais off a great pass from John Carrier. It was the culmination of a dominant first 23 minutes, and that pace would continue. However, multiple near-misses marked the first half and, after a penalty inside the Memphis box with 15 seconds left, the lead was in grave danger.
Memphis striker Santiago Moore’s PK, though, was saved by a diving Hartley, who wasn’t just guessing on the play.
“I don’t want to gloat on myself, but everyone knows I’m very good at PKs and I noticed he kept his hips open the whole time and was leaning that way,” Hartley said. “As he put the ball down I saw him have a little peek that way, and sure enough that’s where he went.
“I was thankful to get my hands on it.”
The visitors controlled play for much of the second half, culminating in Parker’s tying goal and setting up the wild ending.
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6296; follow on Twitter @youngsports22.