Forward Madison is playoff bound.
Despite a 1-0 loss to Union Omaha in the regular season finale, the Flamingos are headed to the postseason by virtue of a 1-1 draw between South Georgia Tormenta and Charlotte Independence left Tormenta one point behind Madison. Finishing sixth in the 12-team league, Madison faces third-place Northern Colorado Hailstorm in the first round of the playoffs Saturday, October 21, at 8 pm Central Time.
The last time the Mingos made the playoffs was their inaugural season in 2019, when they finished fourth and lost in the semifinal to eventual champion North Texas.
A win in the final match of the season would have sealed the playoff berth for Madison, regardless of the result in Charlotte. But Union Omaha’s Steevan dos Santos scored the game’s only goal, a deflection off the underside of the crossbar, in the 64th minute to win the Players’ Shield — the regular season championship.
Madison held the bulk of the possession – 55 percent – and managed 12 shots, but only two on target.
Meanwhile Omaha took 15 shots and got six on target — five of which goalie Bernd Schipmann saved.
Not that anyone in the Madison locker room minded — nor any of the 4,740 fans in attendance — as the draw in Charlotte secured Madison’s spot in the playoffs.
“It’s not really the way we wanted to do it, but our goal at the beginning of the season was to be a playoff team,” head coach Matt Glaeser said in a postgame press conference. “We accomplished that. We put ourselves into a new season. It’s a new season now, with an opportunity to win a trophy.”
Wingback Stephen Payne said making the playoffs while losing at home was “a bittersweet feeling.”
“We’ve just got to get back to that mentality of everybody doing everything” to win in the playoffs, he said. “Think back to the beginning of the year. We had defenders scoring goals. We had attackers making big defensive plays. We’ve got to get back to that identity.”
Madison fell 2-0 to Northern Colorado on October 7, conceding one goal on a free kick and another on a penalty.
“We go to Colorado really confident,” said center back and team captain Mitch Osmond. “Where you finish in the regular season isn’t an indicator of who wins the league. And that’s the beauty of the playoffs. That’s why we love it. We knew that we just had to get in. Look, it’s a 32-game season. Obviously we didn’t end the season the way that we wanted to, but we got enough points over the course of the year to deserve our spot here and get where you want to be. You know, we’re still we’re still playing good in spells and it’s about you know, that mentality going over to Colorado and getting the job done.”
Madison has won just one of its last 11 matches, but built up enough points earlier in the season — which included a midsummer spell atop the table — to back into a sixth-place finish.
Union Omaha and second-place North Carolina FC get first-round byes. Fourth-place Charlotte will host fifth-place Greenville.
“Stick with us,” Glaeser said when asked for a message for the fans. “The fans have stuck with us since day one, when times have been tough. I feel like we’ve made a great step in the right direction. The football club has been through a lot over the last five years. And I’m glad to get the football club back to where we should be, as a playoff team a team that’s trying to be a contender for trophies.”
“The season’s over. We start again,” Osmond said. “Three games to win a championship.”
