SAINT PAUL, Minn. — Minneapolis City SC winger Shea Bechtel opened scoring in just the third minute. The Crows, short-handed due to end-of-summer departures and injuries, battled for another 87 at Pritchard Park against RKC Third Coast. But it was the formidable second-place Racine, Wisc. side, headed for the League Two playoffs, that tallied the game’s final three goals.
The 5-foot-7 soon-to-be college junior, Bechtel, said postgame, it was the first header he’s scored in at least three years. Which is not to diminish a crafty goal, in which the winger set up for the Crows’ first corner on Racine keeper Chandler Hallwood, then slipped out to the near post to flick the ball on and in.
“We scored early. We moved the ball quite well,” said Crows head coach Carl Craig, “and then, I think, we got a bit nervous at our own relative success.”
The Crows, on the back of a four-game unbeaten steak that saw them collect 8 points, entered the day up by a single point on Rochester FC. Needing to maintain that margin to hold off Rochester for fifth place in the Deep North, having ceded the head-to-head tie breaker, an early result shrunk Minneapolis’ margin of error.
Thirty minutes before kickoff in Racine, the final score from Rochester’s match in Glendale, Wisc. was in. The Milwaukee Bavarians failed to find a goal after thrice hitting the crossbar, Nico Cortes scored from a free kick for the other-Loons in the 73rd minute, and the visitors successfully weathered added time down a man, after Juan Lopez Arteaga picked up two yellow cards in the 90th minute.
Three points needed and no points gained by the Crows on Saturday means RFC will join St. Croix Legends as League Two’s representatives in next year’s Minnesota Super Cup. All is not lost for Crows fans, as the Minneapolis City Futures, by dint of winning the UPSL Midwest-West final via shootout (for the second-straight year), will also take part in the competition.
It was never going to be easy, facing an RKC team that had battered City on the counter en route to a 5-3 victory at Edor Nelson Field earlier in the season.
“This is a good side, as we know,” Craig said. “I think the travel and all the games and all that stuff kind of caught up with us. We came out in the second half, started to go for it a bit, but the guys started to break down. Guys are cramping, [I] feel sorry for them.”
One nagging what-if occurred in the 20th minute, when RKC forward Ethan Hoard — who would go on to score in the 28th and 45th minutes — sent City’s trainer out to check on defender Griffin Gyurci.
“We score the goal and then their guy tries to basically side-volley and kicks Griffin in the chin, and I thought they should have had a red card, personally, and I shouted for it,” Craig said. “A few minutes later they get a goal. And then, they get confidence and start coming back in it.”
A 49th minute RKC-goal from Zyan de Andrade gave Minneapolis a mountain to climb, City having used its only sub before half when Mark Gallagher replaced a banged-up Darley Florvil, and the hosts brought in fresh legs to see the game out.
“We know that they’ll give the best they can, they’ve shown. That effort tonight was absolutely outstanding,” Craig said. “Even at the end, we’re probing for goals, and [Henry Bruer-Schmadalla] gets a red card around the 80th minute, when Clemente [Arcuch-Puig] is driving it up the park, just flying up the flank. It’s inspirational, really. So, I think, [broader picture] we finish in a great spot.”
On an individual level, keeper Gabe Kuffel turned in a rather solid League Two debut on an evening where he was called upon to make several saves to keep the Crows in the game.
“Gabe, I think, was a little bit nervous at the start. Made a lot of good saves,’’ said Craig. “Just had a chat with him beforehand and said, ‘Look, there’s a first for everything, every time. It’s nothing to be scared of,” and I thought he did alright. But he’s broken his duck, so now it’s the case of let’s grow from it.”
“I was just very grateful for the opportunity to play and be with the boys for the last league game of the season,” Kuffel said. “I thought it went good, but obviously it could have gone a little better with the result. But I’m pretty happy the boys and I fought to the end.”
For his own part, the keeper said he tried his best to over-communicate, in an effort to keep organized during a game in which collective fatigue was a factor.
As to how a defeat on the end of an impressive run of form sets the Crows up for next year, all involved were surprisingly bullish.
“Obviously we didn’t start off this season too great, but I think that by the end we were really showing our true colors,” said Kuffel. “We came together. You could tell, just in practice, people cared about each other, which helped out with our gameplay at lot. And I think we got a bunch of young guys so I think next year is gonna be great.”
“What a smashing bunch of lads we got,” Craig said. “My words at halftime, my words at the end… our strength is the unity in the room. And it sounds a bit like a bloody-corny Disney sports-movie, but the reality is they know that’s the truth.”
Looking ahead to what, without a win, will be the final Crows match of 2023, Craig and Bechtel turned their attention to Tuesday’s Minnesota Super Cup home-game against Duluth.
“Just getting our bodies right tonight and recovering over the weekend, hopefully getting a couple guys back that couldn’t make the trip [today], and finishing out the season strong,” Bechtel said. “Get a win and then advance to the semifinal on the weekend.”
“If we can somehow recover by Tuesday, I think we’ll give ‘em a hell of a game,” said Craig. “Because what we’ve got, we’ve got footballers. We can play. We run out of steam tonight, simple as that. I really thought we could beat, these, tonight, as well, and they’re very good, and then we just hit that wall. Simple.”
