A tight contest saw Philadelphia Union II emerge victorious and advance to the quarterfinals of the USL eCup Rocket League Tournament, knocking off El Paso Locomotive FC by a 3-1 margin.
"Feels great to continue on to the next round," Union II captain Evan Slabicki told PhiladelphiaUnion.com following the match. "The competition is only going to get better so there are some things this matchup showed me that I’ll need to work on."
While all group stage matches were limited to a best-of-three format, the knockout rounds are expanded to a best-of-five scoring and with it came added drama for those watching and playing. Union II opened up the contest as the squad has done all tournament, scoring just 23 seconds in the match up. After growing a 3-1 lead midway through the match, El Paso made it 3-2 with just over two minutes remaining but the Union II captain remained calm in route to a 5-2 win.
The second match was back and with for neither side having a lead beyond a single goal. El Paso looked like they had won the match with a goal with only 42 seconds remaining but Slabicki answered back six seconds later to knot the match at 4-4. With extra time on the horizon, Locomotive FC tied the overall scoring with a buzzer-beating goal.
"Game two was a tough one, I made a couple of sloppy mistakes that put him in a position to score," Slabicki said. "For game three I was focusing on getting an early leading and playing a bit safer to control the game."
The strategy paid off with Union II pushing to a 4-0 lead inside the first half of the five-minute contest and pulling out a 7-4 win to set up a win-and-advance scenario in the fourth match.
Facing a competitor that was focused on defense and reading the Union II's dribbling and rebounds, Slabacki maintained focus to get the opening two goals of the match inside the first minute. El Paso fought back to the match 3-2 with 1:21 left but a pair of insurance goals lift Union II into the quarterfinals of the USL eCup Rocket League Edition.
"He played the counter incredibly well and made some great saves. I found success in my dribbling to fake him out on the goal line a couple of times which kept him guessing and opened up the net a bit more."
Philadelphia Union II will face off against the winner of Tuesday's nights other Round of 16 contest between Tacoma Defiance and Austin Bold FC. The match will be streamed on ESPN3 beginning at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, April 21st.
