Crystal Palace’s Sergio Flores ripped off his jersey and jumped into the stand at UMBC Stadium, scrambling to find his wife and nine-month-old daughter amongst a crowd of 1,352 on Wednesday night. The forward finally found them, giving each a hug and kiss to celebrate his penalty kick that clinched Palace’s first United Soccer League Second Division playoff win, a 7-6 shootout victory over the Harrisburg City Islanders after the score was tied at 2-2 after 120 minutes. “I didn’t know I was going to be taking a penalty until right before when coach told me,” Flores said. “I usually go to the right, but at the last second I figured, ‘it’s always safer to go down the middle.’”
Fourth-seeded Palace (12-8-1) and fifth-seeded and defending champion Harrisburg (7-3-11) each made six of the first seven penalty attempts before Palace keeper Brian Rowland made a diving save to his right on City Islander defender Anthony Calvano to set the stage for Flores’ heroics.
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Palace had several chances early in the second half, but failed to build on a 2-1 lead and in the 75th minute, the City Islanders took advantage. Harrisburg midfielder Mo Odour collected a through ball from midfielder Brian Ombiji and slotted a shot on the run past Rowland from about 12-yards out to level the score at 2-2 and force overtime.
Both teams created quality chances in the two 15-minute overtime periods, but neither team could finish its opportunities.
“As long as we kept making [penalty kicks], I figured I was going to get one eventually,” Rowland said. “Guys kept up under pressure and did well.”
Palace and the City Islanders traded set piece goals to start the first half. Palace took a 1-0 lead just 10 minutes into the game when defender Shintaro Harada’s 40-yard free kick bent to the back post of the Harrisburg goal that found Palace’s Gary Brooks. The forward snapped a header over the outstretched hands of Harrisburg goalie Danny Cepero. But the City Islanders answered four minutes later when midfielder Ryan Heins put a 30-yard free kick past a diving Rowland to tie the score.
Palace, however, took a 2-1 advantage into intermission thanks to a spectacular run by midfielder Val Teixeira. The 31-year-old Portugal native raced down the near sideline, split a pair of defenders at the edge of the penalty box and put a hard cross right onto the outstretched leg of midfielder Pat Healey. The former Towson standout re-directed the ball into the back of the net in the 30th minute to give his team the advantage at the half.
Palace advances to the semifinals on Saturday night to face top-seeded Charlotte (13-2-5) in North Carolina.
“Good teams get through,” Rowland said. “Championships teams win this kind of game.”
