Tacoma Defiance were eliminated in the MLS Next Pro Western Conference semifinals on Sunday, falling 1-0 to Austin FC II.
The two teams had been playing a relatively even match until a scuffle broke out along endline around the 69th minute that ultimately resulted in Abdoulaye Cissoko being ejected.
Defiance defender Blake Bowen sort of tripped over an AustinII player as they were vying for a ball that was going out. Bowen then exchanged shoves with one of the reserve players who had been warming up. That started a scuffle, with Cissoko being one of the last players to arrive. After a meeting among the officials, they decided to eject the AustinII sub who initially shoved Bowen as well as Cissoko, forcing Defiance to play a man down for the the final 20-odd minutes.
AustinII eventually got their breakthrough in the 82nd minute when Valentin Noël fired a shot in the box past Jacob Castro.
Defiance had a couple decent looks at an equalizer, but ultimately couldn't find one and were eliminated.
