Chattanooga Football Club coach Bill ElliottSAN DIEGO – The Chattanooga Football Club’s second trip to the National Premier Soccer League championship game ended like the first, with disappointment.
Tucker Sandercock scored the game’s only goal on a header late in the second half to give FC Sonic a 1-0 win and the league title Sunday at Del Norte High School. It was CFC’s first loss to an NPSL team since the season opener on May 5.
“We played well and they were a very good team,” first-year coach Bill Elliott said. “We pressed hard after they got a goal and just ran out of time. We had a couple of good chances and came up short.”
This was CFC’s second trip to the NPSL title game in three years. Both CFC and FC Sonic, of Lehigh Valley, Pa., were in the 2010 national semifinals, in Madison, Ala., where CFC fell 3-1 to the Sacramento Gold in the championship game.
Chattanooga FC (8-2-3) was trying to give the Southeast Conference back to back champions after Jacksonville United FC won the NPSL title last season.