5th minute goal - Michael Panno volley off a corner


“This was a really enjoyable game to be a part of. I’ve known Alan for years and always look forward to playing his team because I know that both teams will try to spend most of the game with the ball on the ground.

I thought early on we did really well to control the tempo and the territory. It felt like we had so much of the ball in the first half and were consistently in their half or our final third. It was easily the best half we’ve played so far this season but we needed to open up a bigger lead by putting away our chances.

In the second half, I thought South came out and did a much better job of making us uncomfortable with and without the ball. As a result, we allowed them too much momentum which ultimately led to their goal.

To our boys credit, I thought we were back to looking a lot more like the team that we can be in overtime. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find the net as often as we probably could have and the game has a funny way of punishing you for things like that. With that said, I was really proud of our boys for their response when the game did change after their goal.

Michael Rafalowski was terrific for us today. For a kid to be able to impact the game in so many different ways really bodes well for him. He was great on the ball today and helped us control the tempo for large stretches, but without the ball he was incredible to watch tonight between the amount of duels he won and the ground he covered.

All in all, when we looked our best, our entire midfield was a joy to watch. Our wide players were the best they’ve been so far this season and while we would’ve loved to win the game obviously, it was a pretty big step in a positive direction.”