With a stout defensive performance and goals from Derek Gebhard and Devin Boyce, Forward Madison FC beat Charlotte Independence 2-0 Saturday at Breese Stevens Field in Madison for the first playoff win in the club’s six-year history.
The Flamingos’ backline held Charlotte to seven shots, only one of which was on target. Meanwhile Madison’s attackers tested goalkeeper Austin Pack with seven shots on target of 16 overall.
“The approach for us this week was one, to be ourselves and play on the ball with freedom, and two, to be really aggressive and take away what they’re good at, which is the transitional moments,” center back and captain Mitch Osmond said after the game.
Gebhard, the longest-tenured Mingo in his fourth season with the club, opened the scoring in the 38th minute. Winger Stephen Payne fed an overlapping Boyce in the right corner. Boyce’s low cross found its way through traffic with the help of a backheel by striker Chrisian Chaney to the foot of Gebhard in space just a couple yards from goal. His right foot slotted it past Pack at the near post.
Madison remained on the front foot much of the second half, but were unable to break through until substitute winger Wolfgang Prentice was taken down in the penalty area at the beginning of stoppage time. Boyce took the ensuing penalty to the left, sending Pack to his right, to seal the win.
“Really proud of the guys, really proud of the players,” head coach Matt Glaeser said after the match. “They put on a performance that we can all be proud of as a club and in community, and I thought they worked their socks off from the beginning to the end.
Just over 3,900 fans were on hand for the first home playoff game in club history.
“The crowd and its involvement this season is such a massive factor as to why the home record’s been so good,” Osmond said. Madison has lost only one home game this season. “Today was a playoff crowd … they carried us through the difficult moments in the game when we were under pressure, especially early on in the second half, (and) gave us that energy that we needed to kind of regain control of the game. We’re just so proud to play in front of them every week.”
Glaeser called the win “a good step in the right direction, a progression. And to win a home playoff game is great, but we’re still not satisfied,” he said. “You know, there’s two games left, and we want to go and win the whole thing.”
Madison, the number-three seed in the eight-team playoff field, will host seventh-seeded Spokane Velocity in the semifinal at 6 pm at Breese Stevens Field this Saturday. Madison beat Spokane 3-0 in May and 2-0 in September. Top-seeded Union Omaha will host Greenville Triumph in the other semifinal at 4 pm Saturday.
