The situation didn't look great at the beginning or the end, but the Chattanooga Football Club was dominant enough in the middle portion of Saturday's road match against the Myrtle Beach (S.C.) Mutiny to win 3-2 and earn the South Region championship in the National Premier Soccer League playoffs.
CFC (16-2-1) returns home this weekend and will face the Midwest champion Indiana Fire on Saturday for a spot in the NPSL championship match on Aug. 8. The other semifinal pits the New York Cosmos and the Club Deportivo Aguiluchos USA from the West Region.
CFC advanced to last year's title match, losing 3-1 to the New York Red Bulls U-23.
In Saturday's win, Chris Ochieng had two goals - giving him 10 for the season - and Leo De Smedt scored his seventh as CFC won at an unfamiliar location.
"We had to adjust to the environment, the field and their style of play," CFC coach Bill Elliott said Sunday. "Once we did, we settled down and controlled the middle of the match."
The visitors had what would have appeared to be a comfortable 3-0 lead, but the Mutiny rallied with scores in the 80th and 82nd minutes to trim CFC's advantage to a goal. They continued to apply pressure, but Elliott said there were no "serious chances" after that.
"The lead allowed us to get complacent," Elliott said, "but we were able to refocus ourselves and close out the game."
In the semifinal, CFC hopes to have the services of forward Luke Winter, who leads the team with 12 goals, and defender James Moore, with both recovering from injuries. However, CFC might have lost forward John Davidson to a knee injury suffered during the Mutiny match.
The win gives the club yet one more opportunity to play in front of the Finley Stadium crowd. During CFC's most recent match at Finley, against Miami Fusion FC in the regional semifinals, 6,143 fans were in attendance.
A year ago in the national semifinals, the club drew 8,878 in a victory over the Sacramento Gold.
"I think the idea of coming back to play at home was as much a motivating force for the players as winning the championship," Elliott said.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him at twitter.com/genehenleytfp.