This year’s Med City FC team has accomplished a lot of “firsts” in the history of the club. This was the first Mayhem squad to win in Fargo/Moorhead, the first to beat Duluth FC and the first to go ten games undefeated. On Friday night, the team had a chance to achieve a couple more firsts with a win over rivals Minneapolis City SC. Victory would mark the first time Med City FC had ever won in July and also clinch the team its first-ever regional playoff birth. The team accomplished both with a hard-fought 1-0 victory against the Crows in Minneapolis.
The Mayhem struck early, in the game’s third minute. A corner kick was only half cleared by the Crows and fell to Med City FC midfielder, Man of the Match, Marcos Fernandez who placed a lethal curled shot into the top corner of the Minneapolis City SC net for a 1-0 lead.
As the game wore on, both sides used stout defense to keep the other team away from goal and neither team was able to carve out many good chances. Med City FC’s defense was led by Nicholas Itopoulos, who had been named to the NPSL North Conference XI earlier in the day. The Mayhem continued to keep pressing for more goals and the Crows were also intent on finding the equalizer. No more goals materialized, however, and Med City FC ran out with the tight win.
In the end, Minneapolis City SC would hoist its second straight conference title trophy, while Med City FC would have to settle for winning the “Minnesota” Cup for having the best head-to-head record against and among the NPSL North Conference’s Minnesota teams.
“It was a great win for us,” said Med City FC general manager Frank Spaeth. “The team spent last week working on a game plan for the Crows and they did a nice job of implementing it. Minneapolis City has a dangerous team and anybody that’s going to have a chance to beat them is going to have to be well-prepared and well-organized.”
As a result of Friday night’s match, Minneapolis City SC drops to the third seed for the regional playoffs and will again take on the Mayhem, who are the region’s fourth seed, in the first round. The two teams will meet again on Tuesday in Minneapolis with a trip to the regional semifinals in Detroit next weekend on the line.
