Detroit City FC's first season in the USL Championship has come to an end. Second-ranked Memphis 901 FC beat Le Rouge 3-1 in the first round of the playoffs on Saturday night.
City was the seventh-ranked team in the playoffs following a loss last Saturday, which set up the match against Memphis, as the top-ranked Louisville City FC had a bye this weekend.
The game went back and forth for the first half and stayed tied at 0-0 when both teams went to halftime. Detroit City came out firing in the second half and played strong, but it was Memphis that struck first.
Chris Allan came is as a substitute and in the 72nd minute put Memphis up 1-0 with a great shot from the right-center of the box, but the lead didn't last long.
City continued to play strong and put pressure on Memphis, and that ended in the 78th minute when a pass from Deklan Wynne found Yazeed Matthews who put the ball in the back of the net to tie the game.
Both teams continued to play hard with each team having a couple of shots, but in the 88th minute, it was Graham Smith who had a great header on a set piece to put Memphis 901 back up 2-1.
Le Rouge had to keep the pressure on, and that included goalkeeper Nate Steinwascher playing out of the net, and Phillip Goodrum in extra time put a ball toward the net that scored from about 35 yards away to put an end to the match.
Memphis ended the game with 56.8% possession compared to 43.2% for Detroit. They had 14 shots and 7 shots on target compared to Detroit's 10 shots with only two on target.
It was an incredible first season for Le Rouge in the USL Championship, which is the second tier of professional soccer in the United States, just below Major League Soccer.
Thousands of fans packed Keyworth Stadium in home games, and City finished with a 14-8-12 regular season record. The 12 ties were tied for the second-most ties in the league.
