Four of the top-performing clubs in the ECNL Boys took the field on Friday for the inaugural ECNL Super Cup Championship, a culmination of this year's expanded format that saw 24 of the strongest clubs from around the country compete in best-against-best action at three different ECNL Boys Super Cup events.
Friday's semifinal matches saw Concorde Fire Platinum, Dallas Texans Academy, and XF Academy, the champions from each ECNL Boys Super Cup event, as well as Legends FC who earned qualification through the wild card spot, in action.
In the first semifinal match, the ECNL Boys East Coast Super Cup Champions, Concorde Fire Platinum took on Legends FC.
Legends controlled large portions of the first half through their outstanding midfield play and saw their efforts rewarded in the 39th minute, when Max Sumner dribbled past a defender and fired a shot from outside the box in the bottom corner to grab the 1-0 lead going into halftime.
In the second half, Concorde had some chances to battle back into the game, but in the 73rd minute Legends doubled their lead on a goal from Isaac Haile to make it 2-0.
Concorde didn't go down quietly though as their persistence paid off in the first minute of added time when Liam Dixon slotted home a shot from inside the box to cut the Legends lead down to 2-1.
With five minutes of stoppage time and Legends a man down, Concorde turned up the pressure on Legends, but the Legends defense was able to see out the final five minutes of stoppage time to seal the 2-1 victory and clinch their spot in the ECNL Boys Super Cup Championship Game.
"This is a really cool format," Haile said. "It's a good experience and it gets us in a playoff environment."
In the second semifinal, the ECNL Boys Central Super Cup Champions, Dallas Texans Academy, took on the ECNL Boys West Coast Super Cup Champions, XF Academy.
Dallas Texans Academy got on the board first in the opening half on a 24th minute goal from Kai Potter that just got over the line to give Texans the 1-0 lead.
XF Academy responded with tons of pressure to close out the half, leading to multiple corner kicks and chances, but ultimately Texans was able to take their 1-0 lead into the half.
In the second half, the XF Academy pressure started to pay off when Reed Henley got on the end of a great corner kick and headed home XF Academy's first goal of the afternoon to knot the game up at 1-1.
Minutes later XF Academy found their second when Aaron Leon picked out the bottom left corner and perfectly placed a shot out of the reach of the keeper to give XF Academy the 2-1 lead.
Dallas Texans tried to battle their way back into the game throughout the final 30 minutes, but XF Academy was able to keep control of the game through their outstanding defense and ultimately book their spot in the ECNL Boys Super Cup Championship Game.
Despite trailing going into the half, XF Academy's Anthony Garcia discussed how their confidence never wavered and how their belief helped lead the second half comeback.
"I think we've had it since the get go," Garcia said. "Obviously, that goal was disappointing for us, but it's a situation we've been in before and we did really well to come back."
With Legends FC and XF Academy advancing, Saturday's inaugural ECNL Boys Super Cup Championship Game will be a rematch of November's ECNL Boys West Coast Super Cup Championship that was won by XF Academy.
Coverage of Saturday's ECNL Boys Super Cup Championship begins at noon EST on ECNL TV, directly following the third place game between Concorde Fire Platinum and Dallas Texans Academy.
