Newtown Pride FC holds off SLC FC in target time to win $1 million in The Soccer Tournament
For all of the high-flying soccer The Soccer Tournament produced over its four days in Cary, it was a tactical, measured approach in a low-scoring, technical game that proved to be the most effective.
Newtown Pride FC, a team with a core of high-level amateurs based in Sandy Hook, Connecticut, scored once late in regulation and scored the lone goal in the tournament’s extended target time session to defeat Canadian-based SLC FC, 2-0, to claim the $1 million first prize.
Kelvin Nunes tapped the game-winner past SLC FC keeper John Smits after a brief back-and-forth passing sequence with Drew Ruggles. The goal came with the teams playing at 5-on-5, just past the 14-minute mark of the extra session known in this tournament as target time, a unique version of overtime that ensures each game ends on a goal.
Target time play has provided some thrills this week — including some three- and four-goal comeback wins.
But there would be no comeback Sunday for SLC FC, a team representing Canada. The name SLC FC comes from the Sports League Canada, which is the premier adult soccer league in the Greater Toronto Area. Their roster consisted of some of the best talent from the Canadian Futsal National Team and League1 Ontario.
Newtown, meanwhile, is an amateur club from Sandy Hook. A smaller club, it still has a championship pedigree, with a National Amateur Cup in its trophy case. The club is the second National Amateur Champion to directly qualify for the U.S. Open Cup.
Sunday, it took two late goals to add some money to the club’s coffers.
Gabriel Costa broke a scoreless stalemate in the 35th minute with a rocket shot from the top of 18-yard box, cutting back across his body to blast the ball past Smits.
That set the stage for a tense target time session, but Newtown remained mostly in control, as it had for most of the tournament. Winner of Group A, Newtown was the only team in the Round of 16 and beyond to win by more than one goal, and did so in every round — 4-0 over DMV Dimplomats, 3-1 over Hapoel Tel Aviv, 4-1 over Sneaky Fox, and 2-0 Sunday in the championship.
The club announced on social media before the match Sunday that it will donate a portion of its winnings to the Newtown Pride FC Scholarship Fund at the Newtown Community Center in Connecticut.
This story was originally published June 4, 2023 at 4:44 PM with the headline "Newtown Pride FC holds off SLC FC in target time to win $1 million in The Soccer Tournament."
