Greenville, SC – The Greenville Triumph Soccer Club moved within one win of clinching a playoff berth after a 1-0 victory against the New England Revolution II on Saturday night at Legacy Early College in West Greenville. The win helped extend Greenville’s unbeaten run to 7 matches and pull them within a point of second-place Chattanooga and a potential first round bye.
Greenville began the match with two true strikers up top for the first time in months, with Lachlan McLean making his first start back from a knee injury after appearing off the bench in the last two matches following a multiple-month absence. McLean joined Marios Lomis and the pressing Allen Gavilanes and Jesus Ibarra to create a number of chances in the first half. The Triumph fired a number of shots at New England’s goalkeeper, Joe Rice, but failed to find the back of the net in the first 45 minutes.
Triumph SC continued their assault on goal in the second half, with Rice making highlight reel saves to keep the match level. Things turned for Greenville in the 57th minute, when Allen Gavilanes whipped a free kick from outside the box directly at the goal. Rice was unable to adjust to Gavilanes’ perfectly-placed shot, which curled into the netting to put Greenville on the board. It was the first professional goal for the Marist College alum in hist first season with the Triumph.
The Triumph continued to push the ball towards the goal as the half wore on, including a great chance in the 83rd minute when Marios Lomis quickly broke at goal, only to be dragged down by New England captain Collin Verfuth. Verfuth was shown his second yellow card for the foul, and sent off with a red card. Even as Greenville continued to apply pressure, Rice made highlight save after highlight save and kept the Triumph’s total at one. Unfortunately for the visitors, they weren’t able to amount a significant counters as Greenville collected the 1-0 win.
Greenville’s win brought them to 41 points on the season, just two points away from clinching a playoff berth. Depending on the outcomes of the Tucson and North Texas matches across the rest of the weekend, GTSC could clinch by tomorrow night. The win also brings them just one point behind second-place Chattanooga and a potential first-round bye. With two matches remaining, Triumph SC now controls its’ destiny for the bye, but will have to beat Chattanooga next week to climb up to second place. The Red Wolves come to the Upstate to face the Triumph on Saturday, October 23rd at 7:00 PM in Greenville’s last home match of the regular season.
