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Home Teams Advance to Conference Finals in 2021 USL Championship Playoffs, presented by TwinSpires

By USLChampionship.com Staff, 11/14/21, 11:00AM EST

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Tampa Bay, Louisville to square off in Eastern rematch; Orange County, San Antonio vie for first Championship Final berth


Louisville City FC's Cameron Lancaster scored late to send his side to a seventh consecutive Eastern Conference Final this Saturday night as the hosts defeated the Charlotte Independence at Lynn Family Stadium. | Photo courtesy Em-Dash Photography / Louis

TAMPA, Fla. – All four home teams advanced on Saturday night in the Conference Semifinals of the 2021 USL Championship Playoffs, presented by TwinSpires. Those results set up a rematch of last year’s Eastern Conference Final between the Tampa Bay Rowdies and Louisville City FC, while in the Western Conference Final, Orange County SC and San Antonio FC will face each other for the first time in the postseason and vie for their first trip to the USL Championship Final.

The Rowdies continued the defense of their Eastern Conference title with a 1-0 win against Birmingham Legion FC at Al Lang Stadium as Yann Ekra’s second-half goal proved the difference in a game that saw the hosts record their 15th shutout of the season (Full Report | Box Score). Louisville City FC, meanwhile, earned a 1-0 win against the Charlotte Independence as Cameron Lancaster scored on a penalty kick in the 89th minute at Lynn Family Stadium (Full Report | Box Score).

The sides will now meet for a second consecutive postseason in the Eastern Conference Final, where the scene will shift this season to Tampa Bay’s Al Lang Stadium. In their prior encounter a year ago, the Rowdies claimed a 2-1 win against LouCity at Lynn Family Stadium to even the overall playoff series between the clubs at one win apiece.

Orange County advanced to the Western Conference Final for the second time in its history after defeating Oakland Roots SC 6-5 in a penalty shootout at Championship Soccer Stadium, with Ronaldo Damus scoring the decisive penalty kick. OCSC goalkeeper Patrick Rakovsky made a save to open the sixth round of the shootout, and Damus converted the next kick, giving the club-record crowd of 5,218 cause for celebrations (Full Report | Box Score).

The Southern California club will host San Antonio, which rode a pair of goals from Santiago Patino to a 3-1 victory against Rio Grande Valley FC at Toyota Field in the first postseason edition of the South Texas Derby (Full Report | Box Score). Nathan Fogaca also found the net for San Antonio, while Elvis Amoh converted a penalty kick midway through the second half for the Toros. SAFC advanced to its first Western Conference Final.

The spotlight now turns to Saturday, Nov. 20, which will feature a doubleheader of Conference Final action on ESPN+. The full schedule is below and the updated playoff bracket is here.

2021 USL Championship Playoffs, presented by TwinSpires
(All times Eastern; home team listed first) 

Eastern Conference Final 
Saturday, Nov. 20

Tampa Bay Rowdies vs. Louisville City FC, 7:30 p.m. ET, Al Lang Stadium (ESPN+)

Western Conference Final
Saturday, Nov. 20

Orange County SC vs. San Antonio FC, 10 p.m. ET, Championship Soccer Stadium (ESPN+)

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