Prince Forfor of Columbus Crew 2 dribbled past his defender, cut toward the end line and flicked a cross to the back post. Brent Adu-Gyamfi finished it first time with his right foot.
The goal, in the 72nd minute Sunday night in Matthews, came 14 minutes after Crown Legacy FC had tied the game. It gave Columbus a 2-1 win in the Eastern Conference semifinal of MLS NEXT Pro, the developmental league run by Major League Soccer, and ended the season for Charlotte FC's development team, the top seed in the East.
"They had two big chances. We had two big chances," said Kevin Sawchak, Crown Legacy's head coach. "They finished theirs, and we didn't."
Forfor had scored the first goal in the 49th minute, after a scoreless first half. Columbus's Jamil Danjaji broke past Crown Legacy's back line on a counterattack, carried the ball over midfield and found him unmarked at the back post. Between the 52nd and 56th minutes, Forfor also blocked three Crown Legacy shots, two from winger Magic Smalls and one from Charlotte FC forward Hugo Mbongue.
Smalls was taken down in the box, and Mbongue tied the game on a penalty kick in the 58th minute. It was his 15th goal of the season, and he is 5 for 5 on penalty kicks this year, the club said.
After Adu-Gyamfi scored, Columbus goalkeeper Luke Pruter saved a shot from Charlotte FC winger Nathan Richmond in the 79th minute and a Richmond header in stoppage time. A minute later, a header from the center of the box by defender Andrew Johnson, who captained Crown Legacy on Sunday, was blocked. It was the last shot of the game.
Crown Legacy outshot Columbus 22-9 and put eight shots on goal, according to the league's match statistics. Pruter saved seven, four from Richmond.
Crown Legacy had chosen this opponent. As the top seed in the East, it got to pick, and it took No. 4 Columbus, the higher of the two seeds left. The teams had not played during the regular season. "It's always a risk," Sawchak said. "I thought it was a risk for both teams. They haven't felt what it's like to play here in front of our fans and the intensity that we can bring at home."
Crown Legacy scored 67 goals in the regular season, the most in the league, and beat Red Bull New York II 2-1 on Oct. 18 for the club's first home playoff win.
Daniel Brown, a 15-year-old forward from Charlotte FC's academy, replaced Smalls in the 82nd minute and became the youngest player in club history to appear in an MLS NEXT Pro playoff game, the club said. "We're not afraid to put young players in the game if they're good enough," Sawchak said.
Columbus advances to the Eastern Conference final, scheduled for the weekend of Oct. 30.