CFC players celebrate their 2-0 regional final soccer match victory over the Tulsa Athletics on Saturday at Finley Stadium.
CFC players celebrate after Luis Trude, center, scored an early goal during Chattanooga’s regional final soccer match against the Tulsa Athletics Saturday at Finley Stadium.The Chattanooga Football Club got a lead early in its South regional championship match Saturday night against the Tulsa Athletics at Finley Stadium. Then the home team defended.
And defended. And defended some more.
And because of how well Chattanooga FC did that, it lives to fight another day.
Luis Trude’s goal in the fourth minute propelled Chattanooga to a 2-0 victory in front of 2,827 fans and a spot in the National Premier Soccer League semifinals next weekend at a site to be determined. The win was the third regional championship for the CFC, which was national runner-up in 2010 and 2012.
Tulsa (10-1-1) applied lots of pressure in its attack, from all angles. That backfired from the beginning, though, as after Chattanooga FC (12-2-2) cleared a corner kick, Trude made a 90-yard sprint and calmly pocketed a shot in the right corner of the net.