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USL Birmingham Legion FC

Legion FC Advances to US Open Cup Round of 32 for First Time

April 27, 2023 - United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Birmingham Legion FC News Release


TUSCALOOSA, AL - Birmingham Legion FC advanced to the fourth round of the US Open Cup for the first time in club history via a penalty kick shootout victory over Chattanooga FC on Wednesday night. After regular time concluded with the match tied 1-1, the home side prevailed thanks to a Trevor Spangenberg walk off penalty kick save to seal the deal.

Prosper Kasim opened the scoring on the night with a wonder goal off his wonderful left boot in the 31st minute. Legion FC made its way into the box and CFC attempted to clear, but the ball fell to the Ghanaian just outside the area. He cut in onto his favored side and left the 'keeper rooted with a pinpoint, curling effort into the top left corner.

"You just saw he's aware of those scenarios and when he looked up, you could tell he was going to take it and he hit it perfectly," said Head Coach Tommy Soehn when asked about Kasim's goal. "He sent the 'keeper and the 'keeper had no chance on that. So just good vision and good execution."

The visitors evened things up from the penalty spot in the 68th minute after Chattanooga was awarded a penalty kick. Forward Taylor Gray took some slight contact and forward Markus Naglestad scored from 12 yards.

Despite finishing the match with 23 shots to CFC's ten, the referee's whistle blew at 90 minutes with the match still tied, 1-1, and again at 120' to set up penalties. Four of Legion FC's five takers found the back of the net, Tyler Pasher, Gabriel Alves, Jake Rufe, and Enzo Martinez, while Juan Agudelo's effort was saved. With his side up, and the fifth Chattanooga penalty taker at the spot, Spangenberg came up big to deny the shot and win the game.

"You never know how penalty shootouts can go," said Spangenberg. "You can think you're good at penalties, but then they can come up and bury five on you. So, I just kind of stick to what I know and look at the things that I think are going to help me get a good read. And they still hit some good penalties, but thankfully we did too tonight. And I was just happy to get two. I count it as two. Misses count as a save in the goalkeeper union book. It was good to at least get two and move on to the next round.

"I just kind of space out in the moment and I'm just worried about each guy. I think as soon as I did save it, I was aware we had won. I don't think even half the team was aware we had won, but it's just one of those you're just totally in the moment. You're not really thinking next save, wins it, anything like that. It's just yeah, zeroed in on one guy and one guy alone. I like it."

Box Score:

‚ 1st Half 2nd Half Pens

BHM 0 1 4

CFC 0 2 3

GOALS:

BHM - 31' - #10 Prosper Kasim

CFC - 68' - #99 Markus Naglestad (P)

Penalty Kick Shootout: BHM 4 - CFC 3

Legion FC Goals - Pasher, Alves, Rufe, Martinez

Chattanooga FC Goals - Naglestad, Prepelita, Mwape

Lineup:

BHM ‚ - 4-3-3 - #18 Trevor Spangenberg; #4 Collin Smith (120' - #13 Jake Rufe), #21 Alex Crognale, #2 Ben Reveno, #33 Moses Mensah (116' - #15 Tyler Pasher); #6 Anderson Asiedu, #17 Matthew Corcoran (102' - #8 Dante Johnson), #19 Enzo Martinez; #9 Juan Agudelo, #10 Prosper Kasim (90' - #3 Phanuel Kavita), #7 Diba Nwegbo (56' - #16 Gabriel Alves)

The Three Sparks return to protective stadium on Sunday, April 30th to face the Hartford Athletic, and fans can grab tickets today at bhmlegion.com/tickets!

Legion FC Quote Sheet

Birmingham Legion FC vs Chattanooga FC

US Open Cup Round Three

April 26, 2023

Head Coach Tommy Soehn

What was your vantage point of Prosper's awesome opening goal where's that one rank on his special moments with the club?

"You just saw he's aware of those scenarios and when he looked up, you could tell he was going to take it and he hit it perfectly. I mean, he sent the 'keeper and the 'keeper had no chance on that. So just good vision and good execution."

There were some questions around the return trip to Tuscaloosa. What was the atmosphere like tonight for you guys?

It was good. Obviously, the pitch is great and I think the environment is great here, but I also know we were tired. Obviously, it wasn't ideal playing the extra time, but overall, the excitement and our fans coming here, it was a good atmosphere.

What did you see on that penalty call in the second half?

It's something that we shouldn't have done. I don't know if it was in the box or not. It looked like it was pretty close, but there's no need to even get in the scenario to let him make the call. He made it, so we deal with it.

Created a good number of chances after the equalizer by Chattanooga, but not many of them coming to anything. Once you got into extra time, what made their defense difficult to break down? Were you thinking, like you said, tired legs?

A little bit of everything. I mean, they were defending with full blocks back there Set pieces, I thought, we had a couple of corner opportunities that they were able to clear off the line and stuff, but that's all part of the game. I said we didn't want it to go as far as it did, but once we created that, our guys still pushed the game, I felt like, and they were kind of hanging on, so happy we pulled it off.

Dante [Johnson] getting his debut tonight. Limited minutes, but what have you seen from him?

I thought he did well. I just told him before he went in that he trains with us every day, so it shouldn't be any different than what you do every day. I thought he did a really good job.

First time getting into the round of 32 and club history. I know we've only competed three times, but what does that mean to you, having won a few of them and to the team?

Yeah, I mean, I know how hard it's going to get. This is the first couple of games and now it even gets harder. But it's always exciting to move on in this. And I feel like we got the monkey off our back with penalties. That's our first penalty win. So that's something else that feeds confidence because so many times these games are won in penalties. So, I'm glad we got that one all the way.

Speaking of Trevor getting it done again in a penalty kick shootout, his save final moments gets us that win. What does he mean to the club? Even nominally has been as a backup goalkeeper but coming in and starting and playing really well recently and then getting that saved again tonight.

Well, every player is so important on this team. I think that's why they call it a team. Different guys step up when they need to, and I said to Trevor to save one and we'll get it. And he sure did. Trevor is known for saving penalties so he's a great asset.

Finally, round of 32 draws tomorrow. You want to go ahead and see an MLS side?

Sure, why not?

Goalkeeper Trevor Spangenberg

I'm sure the team had confidence in you from last year's penalty saves in the playoff game. What's the thought process as you head into a penalty kick shootout again here tonight?

I mean, you never know how penalty shootouts can go. You can think you're good at penalties, but then they can come up and bury five on you. So, I just kind of stick to what I know and look at the things that I think are going to help me get a good read. And they still hit some good penalties, but thankfully we did too tonight. And I was just happy to get two. I count it as two. Misses count as a save in the goalkeeper union book. It was good to at least get two and move on to the next round.

What were you kind of thinking as the fifth guy ran up? Have you thought through this save wins it, or are you just focusing on the one? What do you think about the guy as he's running up? Walk me through that.

I'm pretty bad about that, actually. I just kind of space out in the moment and I'm just worried about each guy. I think as soon as I did save it, I was aware we had won. I don't think even half the team was aware we had won, but it's just one of those you're just totally in the moment. You're not really thinking next save, wins it, anything like that. It's just yeah, zeroed in on one guy and one guy alone. I like it.

You can't see much for the penalty on your end on the field, but first 90 minutes or even 120 - What are your thoughts on how that went?

I mean, I thought we definitely had some good moments. That's the magic of the cup, though, isn't it? You know, every game, regardless of who the opponent is, anything's possible. And that was a battle. They had some really good moments, too. They played some good soccer and, yeah, we would have liked to have buried some chances earlier, but, yeah, they were honest, too. And it was a good game, I thought, all around. Just happy we pulled it out there in the end.

You have gotten a good run of games now and stepped up. You've always been ready, and now you're performing quite well. What's that been like this year?

I've said it before, you stay ready so you don't have to get ready. The group of three that we've got goalie wise here is great. It's fun. They're fun to work with every day. And regardless of who's playing, I'd hope that I think all the guys have the confidence that whoever's back there is going to get the job done. So always great to play and get a good run just to kind of build the confidence. And, yeah, it's just like I said, I enjoy working with those two other guys every day and we'll just keep building on it. Whoever's back there is just going to get the job done week in, week out.

Year five, how's the season going? What do you think about this group and where Legion's been and where they're headed?

I love the group. I think it's a pretty close knit knit team. The locker room is fun. A lot of good personalities, a lot of different personalities, but we all enjoy each other and that comes in handy on some of these long road trips and there's fun moments and it's been good to start the way we started. It's a long season, though, so even though we've started good, that means nothing if we go on a bad run. So I think it's important that we just focus on each game as it is. And, yeah, we just want to keep stringing wins together and good results together and never too high and never too low. We just keep going.

We've only played in three of these, but it's the first time Legion FC makes it to the round of 32. You've played in some open cups with different clubs and now a few with us. What's the team's thought on making it this far and the view on the rest of the play in the Cup?

Yeah, it's awesome that we're going to the next round. There's some exciting teams in our group that we're in and so hopefully the draw gives us a good one that we can have some fun with. But personally, I know last year the way we went out, that was frustrating, but again, that's the cup. You have to show up and I think that it's great we're going to the next round, something we haven't done, and we'll approach it like we approach every game and, yeah, hopefully we got a fun opponent to look forward to.

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