Second-seeded El Farolito completed a dominant playoff performance, lifting the Golden Gate Conference championship crown with a 3-0 win over top-seeded Sacramento Gold FC on Saturday night.
El Farolito outscored its opponents by a 13-2 margin in three conference playoff matches.
The win also virtually guarantees El Farolito a berth in the 2023 U.S. Open Cup, since the NPSL gives priority to the final eight teams in its national championship bracket.
The San Francisco-based club also won the conference title in 2018, the year they joined the NPSL, and reached the second round of the 2019 U.S. Open Cup.
The Top Two Collide
Both clubs went into the match on a hot streak. Farolito had won 10 matches in a row (regular season and playoffs), while Sacramento was riding an 8 match winning streak. Farolito had scored 10 goals in their previous two playoff matches and Sacramento scored 7.
On Saturday night, Farolito’s Sergio Martinez got the crucial first goal in the 28th minute, enabling his club to go into the locker room with the lead.
The visitors sealed the victory in the second half with goals from the strike partnership that scored in each of Farolito’s three conference playoff matches: Erik Arias and Dembor Benson. Arias put his name in the scoresheet in the 58th minute and Benson followed one minute later.
Three goals was all Farolito needed, with Colombian goalkeeper Johan Lizarralde keeping a clean sheet.
Tempers flared as the final whistle approached. Farolito’s Javier Del Jesus Delgado was yellow carded for unsporting behavior in the 87th minute. A few minutes later, Farolito’s Judas Higuera was yellow carded for time wasting and Sacramento’s Justin Bethke and Michael Mazzoni were cautioned for unsporting behavior.
Two players were also red carded in stoppage time for violent conduct: Farolito’s Daniel Buitrago and Sacramento’s Manolo Piña, an eight-year NPSL veteran. Piña not only scored 16 regular season and playoff goals this season, but he also led the NPSL in goals and was named the league MVP when the Gold won the NPSL national championship in 2010.
Next Week
El Farolito returns home to Boxer Stadium on Saturday to take on Crossfire Redmond, which beat FC Arizona 4-0 last Saturday. Crossfire Redmond is the champion of the Pacific Conference, which includes three teams from the Pacific Northwest and three from the Southwest. They earned 4 victories and 5 draws in their 10 conference matches this season.
