Stockade's Brandon Curtis goes up for a header against TSF FC. (Photo by Leanne Keator, Ride the Tide Photography)
KINGSTON, N.Y. — On a historic day filled with much to celebrate for Kingston Stockade FC, the only thing missing for the home side was a victory on the pitch.
Getting the bad news out of the way first, Stockade fell to TSF FC on Monday, 4-3, in an entertaining, high-scoring affair.
And while the result might not have been exactly what the hosts wanted, it at least provided great entertainment for the 1,129 fans in attendance at Dietz Stadium, which was the largest home crowd in Stockade history, and also the first time the club has ever broken the one-thousand mark.
Stockade was also able to celebrate the fact that the club had wrapped up the top spot in the Atlantic White Conference, as results elsewhere meant that Kingston had the best record in the conference for the 2017 NPSL season with one match to play. This also meant that Stockade had secured its first-ever playoff spot.
As for the match itself, while it was a very exciting game, the end result wasn't exactly what the hosts were hoping for. (Full match highlights below.)
TSF opened up the scoring in the 37th minute to take a 1-0 lead.
Stockade's Eric Fortier missed a golden opportunity in the 39th minute, as he sent a close-range shot directly into the TSF keeper's chest.
Fortier showed himself to have quite the short memory, however, as he quickly redeemed himself in the 45th minute, with a powerful strike to level things at 1-1.
TSF then scored their second goal in the 52nd minute, only for Fortier to level things yet again with a goal in the 58th minute to put it at 2-2. The goals were Fortier's 3rd and 4th of the season.
Play went back and forth for the next 10 minutes before Matt Koziol scored his 5th goal of the season off of a lovely shot from distance to make it 3-2. TSF then scored in the 81st and 86th minutes, however, to complete the scoring on the day and leave the final tally at 4-3.
Stockade's next match is on Saturday, July 8 at Boston City FC.
Stockade then will host its first ever playoff match on Saturday, July 15 at Dietz Stadium (or Sunday, July 16 in case of a rain delay). Kingston will play the winner of the 2nd vs. 3rd place playoff match earlier in the week.
Man of the Match: Eric Fortier
Stockade Starting XI: Skonieczny; Curtis, Lis-Simmons, Gatti, Zobre; Koziol, Lanzetta, Mitchell; Fortier, Espindola, Jeter