October 23, 2022 – United Soccer League Championship (USL) – Birmingham Legion FC News Release
BIRMINGHAM, AL – In a shocking, adrenaline-filled match, Birmingham Legion FC’s season ends in the USL Championship Playoffs First Round with a loss versus the Pittsburgh Riverhounds after extra time and penalty kicks. Legion opened the scoring first with Prosper Kasim scoring a header from a freekick. Pittsburgh’s Edward Kizza equalized for the Hounds in the 90th minute. Birmingham had the lead again in extra time, with Bruno Lapa scoring to bring us up 2-1, but Kizza would score again in the 116th minute to bring the match to penalty kicks where the Riverhounds prevailed 8-7.
Prosper Kasim — like he does — made Legion history by scoring the club’s first ever home playoff goal. On a ser piece routine straight from the training ground, a beautiful ball from forward Juan Agudelo met the head of Kasim who followed with a looping, pin-point header into the top corner.
The first of many heartbreaks on the night came in the 90th minute, as Pittsburgh’s Kizza scored by heading in a cross from midfielder Robbie Mertz, tying things up 38 seconds after coming on as a substitute.
The Three Sparks scored first in extra time in the 99th minute. Veteran Legionnaire Mikey Lopez found Lapa in the middle of the box, who cleanly curved it past the keeper with an expert finish.
The second heartbreak for Legion fans came in the 116th minute, when Kizza scored his second goal of the match to take the game into a penalty shootout. The Riverhounds forced a turnover, then as midfielder Zack Herivaux was going to attempt to make a play on the ball and slow the Pittsburgh counterattack, he collided with the referee. Both Herivaux and the referee would later need to be removed from the match with head injuries, yet play was not stopped en route to Pittsburgh scoring the game-tying goal seconds later.
The Iron City-Steel City penalty kick shootout was also filled with drama and heartbreak for the home side. Birmingham went down by two thanks to Pittsburgh’s goalkeeper Kevin Silva making back-to-back saves to open the shootout, and then Birmingham came level thanks to Legion goalkeeper Trevor Spangenberg making two huge back-to-back saves of his own on the fourth and fifth PIT penalty to get his side back in it. Sudden death occurred until the ninth penalty, when Kizza scored the game-winning PK after Legion missed its third of the contest.
“Anytime there’s a head injury it’s supposed…
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