Ninety minutes were not enough to separate the top seeds in the Western Conference, extra time goals from Anthony Ramirez, Pedrinho, and Malik Henry-Scott secured North Texas SC the Western Conference Final and a spot in the MLS Next Pro Championship.
“We are here to win trophies and we got one tonight. We are looking forward to fighting for the MLS NEXT Pro Cup on Saturday” Goalkeeper Michael Collodi strongly stated after the match.
The Game
North Texas started nearly the same way they had the previous two playoff games with Logan Farrington leading the line, Nolan Norris and Diego Garcia in midfield, and Nico Gordon captaining the back line alongside Carl Sainte and Mads Westergren. The only change from the previous two games was for the suspended Tyshawn Rose, where Abdoul Zanne filled in at left back.
Michael Collodi’s first call to action came in the 26th minute, as a St Louis attacker rose high to head a shot on target but Collodi made a diving catch to deny St Louis an early lead.
For most of the first half, North Texas presented a sturdy front as each St Louis attack was snuffed out in succession. St. Louis took out their frustration on the legs of Farrington, who was forced out for an early substitution to be replaced by Tarik Scott with just over a quarter of an hour left to play in the first half.
Stoppage time proved to be the first challenge of the match for the North Texas backline, as an early corner drew a beautiful diving save from Collodi to deny another header.
Collodi was called back into action again in stoppage time, this time getting big to deny a chance in close and kept his focus to collect the follow up.
North Texas and St Louis City 2 went into halftime with the score level after a hard-fought 45 minutes.
Just a few minutes into the second half, Collodi faced yet another challenge, this time after the ball fell to an unmarked St Louis player following a blocked shot. Collodi came through with a perfect reflex save before he dove on the follow up to keep the scores knotted at zero.
Collodi made yet another impressive save halfway through the second half, flying through the air to deny St. Louis yet again.
Full Time ended with the game still 0-0, with 30 minutes of extra time on the docket to decide a western conference champion.
North Texas nearly broke through in the 103rd Minute, after a beautiful move frees Tomas Pondeca for a shot in tight but was denied by the St Louis keeper.
But in stoppage time of the first half of stoppage time, Anthony Ramirez curls home the breakthrough for North Texas!
Herbert Endeley started the second half of stoppage time with a mazy run into the box, where he was upended for a North Texas penalty.
Pedrinho stepped up and sent the keeper the wrong way to give North Texas a 2 goal lead in extra time.
In the closing minutes of extra time, Pedrinho threaded a perfect through ball to Malik Henry-Scott who put it through the goalkeeper’s legs to make it a 3-0 game.
North Texas’ stoppage time goals earned the team their first MLS Next Pro Western Conference title.
Michael Collodi earned the Man of the Match hat, and rightly so, with plenty of saves during the first 90 minutes that kept the team in the match.
Quotes and Takeaways
Michael Collodi had to be perfect tonight for North Texas, and he was. Some incredibly impressive saves throughout the game demonstrated his quality on the night and why he has been critical to the success of North Texas on the year.
Pedrinho’s lack of consistency reared its head tonight, after playing well in the first two playoff matches, he was amiss tonight. But even on an off night, he was able to easily dispatch the penalty and lay a perfect pass in Malik’s path for the third goal, 120 minutes after the match kicked off.
St. Louis is a very impressive team and earned their spot in this match. The match was a heavyweight battle between two of the best teams in the league.
“It was definitely the toughest game of the season. St Louis is a great team, we knew about that. At the end of the day, we kept the same intensity as them and kept fighting.” Interim Head Coach Michel said after the match.
He continued “Today, I’m very proud of the boys. Still, some things to correct in terms of attack and temper. Now the motivation is different.”
“We are still hungry, and we still have one more game to go… We have one more game to go.”
Michael Collodi echoed his coach’s statements after the match “It was a hard fought battle, 120 minutes against a really good physically tough side. They made us earn it for sure.”
“We are here to win trophies and we got one tonight. We are looking forward to fighting for the MLS NEXT Pro Cup on Saturday.”
The MLS Next Pro Final will be on Friday, November 9th at Toyota Stadium as North Texas SC take on Philadelphia Union 2.