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USL Nashville SC

Nashville SC Seizes Opportunity to Win First-Ever Home Playoff Match

October 28, 2019 - United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Nashville SC News Release


NASHVILLE - The script played out nearly exactly as written.

Nashville Soccer Club had a plan and executed it en route to a 3-1 win in the Conference Quarterfinals over the Charleston Battery. That plan was epitomized by the first goal off the foot of Lebo Moloto. It was created by aggressive pressing and a forced turnover by Matt LaGrassa.

"If you look at the first goal, that really epitomized an awful lot that we'd worked on, which was to try and get higher up the field to put a seed of doubt in their mind as to what this game was going to be about," Head Coach Gary Smith said. "But to also get us in the right mindset and it took nine minutes to get on the scoreboard but the pressure, the interception, and from one challenge or interception from Matt LaGrassa, Lebo [Moloto] has a clear-cut opportunity on goal. Now if I could have written up an ideal or more ideal scenario, I'm not sure I could've. It was everything we could have asked for. It put us on the right track, and I think mentally it gave us our opportunity to just warm into the game rather than feeling the tension of a nil-nil or a difficult first half performance where we haven't broken the deadlock, which we've seen before. As I said, they're a tough side. They're really difficult to play against and have shown that throughout the year, but I think that opening goal settled a lot of people down."

There were still some nervy moments throughout the match, including a first-half penalty converted by Charleston to level the score. However, Daniel Ríos quickly nullified that penalty with a header goal to close out the first half. In the second half, Charleston threatened towards goal and even hit the post early in the half. But, Nashville controlled the ball and found most of the scoring threat.

"I don't think there's a team in the world, not too many, that absolutely dominate for 90 minutes of the game," Smith said. "My overriding thoughts and view of the performance and what happened, were that for large periods we looked, if not in control of the ball, in control of our actions and where the game was going. But you're right, there were one or two moments. A terrific strike from [A.J.] Paterson on the left-hand side. I've got to say, I'm not sure he'll hit too many more like that, and I've watched him play quite a bit. It was a heck of a strike, but nevertheless, there were some moments where, in a Cup game, where Charleston know if they don't put some pressure on us, or at least take some chances, that they're out. This is the end of their season. So, I think you're always going to get those moments where you feel as though it might just be drifting away from what you want, but I felt as though there were plenty of moments in the game that we controlled. We created more than enough chances to win it."

The dagger goal late in the match came from substitute Derrick Jones, who rumbled through the midfield and scored while on his back in the box, throwing his leg at the ball and placing it in the back corner. For Smith, he was delighted to see his midfielder, who missed most of this season with an injury after being acquired in May, find the score sheet for the first time.

"You don't want to be going into the last few minutes at 2-1, there's that nervousness about the group," Smith said. "Really pleased, and he actually had an opportunity to get a second as well. Did very well. I think it's taken him a little bit longer than maybe any of us would have liked. Including himself, to get to that point where I think you're starting to see some of those qualities again that we saw before the injury. It's not just about a bone healing or a ligament healing. Having been in that position myself, there's something up here [mentally] as well that you've got to get over that injury, especially against a side that you ran into when you had that injury. Really pleased for him. Really pleased."

Now, Nashville will turn its attention to a matchup with Indy Eleven on Saturday night at First Tennessee Park. The club has now won five in a row, and it will look to keep that good run going at home once again with a spot in the Conference Final up for grabs.

"There were lots of really good displays and most importantly of all, we can all look back on this and it's another piece of what we've achieved in that internal fabric that you're building within a group," Smith said. "We move on to next week to play Indianapolis which will be a very tough game, but we're on the back of a really good win of five games and a winning run so it's a nice place to be."

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