PEORIA - After over 30 years of waiting, Seacoast United Phantoms win an extra time thriller on the road to claim the club's first League Two title in front of a crowd of over 3,000 fans, a record at Shea Stadium for a non-professional contest. 

The match’s first few minutes saw tension from both sides, but neither team was in the business of hiding in its shell. The sides combined for 15 shots in the opening 45, with the Phantoms owning a one-shot advantage.

For much of the first 20 minutes, both sides, while aggressive, were still in the process of figuring out how this match was going to play out. Rather than the ball being parked in midfield while those decisions were made, the teams seemed to agree that feeling the match out by sprinting to both boxes was the way to go.

The Carp led at the half in the only statistic that truly matters, however, as Luke Persenico dashed down the left flank and provided Justin Wilson with a tap-in at the back post after Tobias Jahn failed to claim it.

From there, the half only proceeded to heat up more. A nearly last-ditch challenge and foul on DJ Koulai by Harry Bertos late in the half had the Carp faithful clamoring for a red card. It wasn’t to be, as Bertos wasn’t quite the last man, but tension only grew. The Phantoms won an array of set piece opportunities, but any resulting shots were swiftly blocked by the Carp back line or stopped in their tracks by Samy Slimi. Both teams went into the break at halftime with work to do.

The Phantoms came out firing in the second half. Additional pressure won the visitors a corner in the 49th minute, which the Carp couldn’t fully clear away. Taig Healy got on the end of the second ball and just about managed to evade pressure and stay on his feet long enough to fire a shot from outside the box past Slimi. The clock was now nobody’s friend, and the lid was off.

Koulai restored the lead in the 58th minute with a diving header to get on the end of Bradley teammate Joao Saraiva’s cross, and the home fans were in a frenzy.

The excitement quickly faded, though, as another strike from distance found the back of Samy Slimi’s net. This time, it was Terry Makedika from the left side just out of the box, and it ricocheted off the far post and in.

With less than five minutes to go, both teams were searching for the winner, and emotions were running high. A brief altercation as Peoria left back Charlie Dickerson fouled Jahn as the Phantoms keeper went to claim the ball was the flash point of the last 15 minutes, and the clubs played to a stale mate in extra time.

Five minutes into the first extra period, it was substitute Bilal Hersi pouncing on a flick from Alfred Baafi and curling it into the near post to give the visitors their first lead at Shea Stadium. It sent a shockwave through the home support as the Carp tried to recover quickly, but couldn’t make any ground for the rest of the period.

Seacoast had to hold firm in the second period, as both sides fought tooth and nail to get a nose in front. Thanks to superb goalkeeping by Jahn, the visitors were able to keep their lead and walk away with the trophy in hand.