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USL eCup Matchday Report – Switchbacks Take Thriller for First Win

By NICHOLAS MURRAY - nicholas.murray@uslsoccer.com, 06/01/20, 9:42PM EDT

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Defiance also pick up first victory of tournament; LouCity’s Watts continues to show talent on sticks

Two teams broke through for their first victories of the tournament in the USL eCup: FIFA20 Edition on Monday night as Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC won an extra time thriller, and Tacoma Defiance also broke through with a five-star performance.

Three Things that Mattered

1. The final game of the night proved to be the most entertaining, and also ended up giving Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC its first victory of the tournament as Luke Ferreira marshalled Paraguay to a 5-4 victory in extra time to defeat FC Tulsa’s Dario Suarez and the United States. The game had close to everything, with the Switchbacks taking an early lead before stretching it into a 4-1 lead in the 36th minute, at which point the game looked buried. Suarez led a big comeback, though, pulling back one goal in first-half stoppage time and two more in the second half to send the game to extra time. There was no capper for Suarez, however, as Ferreira notch a fifth for Paraguay 12 minutes into the extra session to claim the Golden Goal.

2. Colorado Springs’ victory added to another first earlier in the evening, with Tacoma Defiance grabbing their first win of the tournament thanks to Chino Perez guiding Slovenia to a 5-2 victory against North Carolina FC’s Dre Fortune and Turkey and promotion to Division B next week. The Defiance have been waiting a while for a result like this – especially coming off a 4-0 defeat to kick off last week’s action – but Perez was in sparkling form on the sticks to take the No. 29 seed in the tournament to an emphatic win.  

3. If there was anything we learned two weeks ago, it was Louisville City FC’s Akil Watts is pretty good at this. The young defender showed that again in a 7-1 victory with Wales against Birmingham Legion FC’s Massimo Nuzzo to return LouCity to Division B once again. Taking the lowest-seeded side in the tournament and producing the way Watts this tournament continues to be impressive, and he’ll be a big test for Colorado Springs in Wednesday’s bracket Semifinals.

Highlights Central

Around the Brackets

- Memphis 901 FC’s Duane Muckette got back to work in style with Austria on Monday night with a 4-1 victory against Loudoun United FC’s Elvis Amoh and Denmark. 901 FC achieved this two weeks ago as well, only to immediately regress last week as it took on Division B. The goal for next week has to be reaching the Division B semifinals, which would get the side into the black on points for the tournament overall.

- Loudoun United FC, meanwhile, is now the lone side to have failed to take victory all tournament. One more chance to avoid the shutout next week.

Results

Division C
Quarterfinals

Tacoma Defiance (Slovenia) 5, North Carolina FC (Turkey) 2
Memphis 901 FC (Austria) 4, Loudoun United FC (Denmark) 1
Louisville City FC (Wales) 7, Birmingham Legion FC (Ireland) 1
Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC (Paraguay) 5, FC Tulsa (United States) 4

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