This afternoon was FC Cincinnati’s first USL playoff game…

FC|C was the third seed in the USL Eastern Conference. They were taking on the six seeded Charleston Battery. We were hoping for the best but apprehensive because during the regular season FC|C lost away to the Battery 1-0 and drew at Nippert 1-1…

Before the match, I was interviewed by Fox19 news. We DVR’d the news and I made the cut. I’ll try to get a video posted of my little interview soon…

Here we go…

At the half, it was all knotted at 1-1 after FC|C’s Eric Stevenson launched a thirty yard rocket into the the upper right corner of the Charleston net in the 19th minute. The wunder strike earned Stevenson the 3 spot on ESPN’s SportsCenter Top 10 plays.

Charlotte tied the game on a very soft goal in the 40th minute. At halftime, we moved down closer to the goal FC|C would be attacking…

We were waiting for the second FC|C goal that never materialized. Instead, it was Charleston who took the lead 2-1 in the 65th minute…

And in typical FC Cincinnati fashion, they set an new attendance record for a USL post season match. 30,187 showed up to see FC|C’s first posteseason match…

And that’s the way the match would end 2-1 to the Battery…

It was an incredible inaugural season that ended much too abruptly. A disappointing way for the season to end but FC Cincinnati’s first season definitely exceeded all expectations. I would have never guessed when it was first announced that Cincinnati was getting a USL soccer team that they would finish third in the Eastern Conference, make the playoffs as the three seed and set the USL single game attendance record not once, twice but three times, broke the USL single season attendance record and the single game attendance for a soccer game in the state of Ohio during their friendly against Crystal Palace. They averaged over 17,000 people per home game. And Ugo Okoli won the USL’s Golden Boot award. It was simply just an amazing first season. We made to every match FC|C played in Cincinnati. We’ve already renewed our season tickets, and we can’t wait for the second season of FC Cincinnati soccer because this season was a blast! And I have the distinct feeling it’s only going to keep getting better and better. 🙂