June 18 - Alpharetta,GA
Mississippi Brilla travelled to Atlanta to take on the Southeast Division’s second placed Blackhawks on Friday night. A win for Mississippi would moved them into second place in the division after Baton Rouge took the division lead with a win over the New Orleans Jesters.
It looked like Brilla would take all three points. In the 35th minute, Moses Aduny fed Ahmad Ihmeidan a pass right in front of the Atlanta net and he put it away to put Brilla up 1-0. Two minutes later, Aduny would double the lead when he picked off a pass from the Atlanta goalkeeper and dribbled around him and put the ball into the empty net.
Brilla went into half-time with the two goal advantage and had to feel good about their chances of taking all three points. In fact, Mississippi added a third goal in the 55th minute when Lucas Paulini’s through ball put Aduny in to the Atlanta goal alone. Again he beat the ’keeper and put Brilla up 3-0.
Perhaps the team thought they had the win in the bag, or the third goal woke the Blackhawks from their slumber, but the game would change drastically in the last 25 minutes.
While they had two or three very good chances to score earlier thwarted by a scrambling Brilla defense, Atlanta’s luck changed in the 65th minute when they found an open man 12 yards out. His shot caromed off of the left post and in the Brilla net to close the gap to 3-1.
In the 82 minute, another well-placed shot would hit the Brilla net when Atlanta was putting serious pressure on the Mississippi goal.
Atlanta would complete the comeback in the 89th minute when their corner kick was buried from a header.
Both teams would spend the next minute, plus injury time, pressing for the winner. Both teams came close, but neither could break the deadlock. The match would end 3-3, and Mississippi would remain in 4th place behind Baton Rouge, New Orleans, and Atlanta. Mississippi has at least one game in hand on each of them.
Brilla will look to secure a win and move up in the standing on Sunday afternoon in Nashville when they take on the Metros at 3:00 PM at Seigel Park.
