ERIE, Pa. — The Rochester Lancers will play at least one more day in the National Premier Soccer League playoffs.

In a Midwest Region quarterfinal game that began Tuesday and was completed Thursday night, the Lancers overcame AFC Ann Arbor in a shootout, 5-4, after the teams played to a 1-1 tie after 110 minutes at Gannon University.

The Lancers will head west and play Cleveland SC in the semifinals Friday at 4:30 p.m. for the right to meet Detroit City FC in the regional final Saturday.

Michael Cunningham, Momic …., Nate Bourdeau, Isaac Kissi and Rafa Godoi converted their penalty kicks for Rochester.

Goalkeeper Andrew Coughlin denied Yazeed Matthews on Ann Arbor’s first attempt before the hosts recorded four consecutive PKs.

During regulation, Kissi lifted Rochester into a 1-0 lead in the 87th minute but Matthews equalized for Ann Arbor only a minute later, forcing extratime.

The match started Tuesday night at Concordia University in Ann Arbor, Mich., a venue that did not have any lights. A pair of lightning delays forced the game to be stopped in the 69th minute due to darkness.

That’s when confusion reigned.

Rochester originally claimed it had to forfeit the game because a suitable solution could not be reached. But that did not happen.

AFC Ann Arbor then announced the winner would be decided by a coin flip. That did not happen.

Eventually, both parties agreed to resume the match in the 69th minute here.

It was the first Lancers’ win in an outdoor playoff game since they defeated the Toronto Metros-Croatia in the 1977 North American Soccer League playoffs, 1-0, on Ibraim Silva’s goal.

 

Front Row Soccer editor Michael Lewis has covered 13 World Cups (eight men, five women), seven Olympics and 25 MLS Cups. He has written about New York City FC, New York Cosmos, the New York Red Bulls and both U.S. national teams for Newsday and has penned a soccer history column for the Guardian.com. Lewis, who has been honored by the Press Club of Long Island and National Soccer Coaches Association of America, is the former editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. He has written seven books about the beautiful game and has published ALIVE AND KICKING The incredible but true story of the Rochester Lancers. It is available at Amazon.com.