Junior Moreno scored in the 10th round of the shootout and Roman Celentano followed with the match-ending save as FC Cincinnati prevailed over the New York Red Bulls on Saturday night in Harrison, New Jersey, to advance to the Eastern Conference semifinals.
The two sides played to a 1-1 tie in regulation before FC Cincinnati prevailed 8-7 in an intense shootout to sweep the best-of-three first-round series.
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Tom Barlow scored in regulation for the Red Bulls, while Aaron Boupendza tallied for FC Cincinnati.
John Tolkin had an opportunity to give New York the victory in the fifth round of the shootout, but his left-footed shot caromed off the right goal post. The net was wide open as Celetano had gone in the other direction.
Moreno stepped up to the spot in the 10th round and sent a right-footer into the right corner of the net to put Cincinnati in the lead.
Andres Reyes was next for the Red Bulls, and his right-footed shot toward the right corner was stopped by Celentano to end New York’s season.
Luciano Acosta, Yuya Kubo, Brandon Vazquez, Alvaro Barreal, Matt Miazga, Boupendza and Sergio Santos also scored in the shootout for Cincinnati. Santiago Arias and Yerson Mosquera missed their attempts.
For the Red Bulls, Omir Fernandez, Frankie Amaya, Sean Nealis, Cameron Harper, Dylan Nealis, Elias Manoel and Peter Stroud scored. Tolkin and Serge Ngoma missed their attempts.
Celentano made two saves in regulation, while New York’s Carlos Coronel had four stops.
The Red Bulls got on the board in the 45th minute when the ball came Barlow’s way and he hit a point-blank, right-footed shot that caromed off the leg of Celentano and into the net.
Cincinnati knotted the score 30 minutes later as Acosta led a fast break from midfield.
As he neared the top of the box, Acosta fed the ball to his left to Boupendza, who sent a left-footer in that hit the inside of the goal post on its way to the net to tie the score.
In the 90th minute, Barreal had a chance to win it for FC Cincinnati, but Coronel made the save.
In the eighth minute of second-half stoppage time, a corner kick into the humanity in front of the net caromed off Santos and into the net. The play was reviewed, and it was deemed that the ball ricocheted off Santos’ right arm and the goal was negated.
