The Des Moines Menace defied the odds during the regular season, dominating the regular season en route to only the third undefeated regular season campaign in USL men’s amateur history and first since 1998. Meanwhile, the lowest seed in three of the four conference playoffs advanced to the semifinals.

Unfortunately for Des Moines, their 15-0-3 record, home field advantage and phenomenal fan support meant nothing in the second season as the team fell at the hands of the Mid Michigan Bucks, a club well known for their ability to stun the favorites after several stellar US Open Cup performances against A-League and Major League Soccer teams.

Stunned 3-1 in the first round, the Menace were left wondering what happened as upsets continued to roll in around the league in the conference playoffs. The higher-seeded clubs failed to advance in seven of the eight first round matches with the fifth-seeded Tampa Bay Hawks moving on to the Southern Conference final before falling to division rival and 15th-seeded Bradenton Academics. Two other conferences saw upsets again in the final as the 14th-seeded Southern California Seahorses and 11th-seeded Boulder Rapids Reserve moved on to the league semifinals, leaving the Eastern Conference’s Cape Cod Crusaders as the highest remaining seed at eight.

The Seahorses’ run, however, came to an end on the road against the hot Rapids Reserve side that finished the season with an eight-game unbeaten string and advance to the semis via penalty kicks after a 0-0 tie against the Bucks. Boulder proved just too much, riding to a 5-1 victory over Southern California to advance to the championship match.

On the east coast, the Crusaders headed to Florida on a 12-game unbeaten streak including their playoff wins over the Williamsburg Legacy and Raleigh CASL Elite. The Academics proved to be more of a challenge for Cape Cod with the game tied 2-2 late in the game. The visiting Crusaders, however, grabbed the victory 3-2 and headed back home, where they would host the championship match.

Before a standing room only crowd of 2,239 fans, Cape Cod and Boulder battled through regulation, needing overtime to decide the championship.

The match started at a fever pitch as both teams put their speed to immediate use trying to strike first. Boulder held the edge in the early stages of the match with several dangerous scoring opportunities but were unable to find the back of the net with numerous shots either missing just wide or being blocked by the Cape Cod defense.

The first half finished scoreless with Boulder holding the edge in shots 6-3. The second half proved even more furious with 17 shots as both teams pushed to capture the league title.

Moments after Schmidt had produced his third scoring chance of the second half, Cape Cod’s Eric Reed finally broke the stalemate in the 58th minute on a stunning goal. Reed stole the ball as Boulder was moving out of its end and launched a shot from 30 yards out that caught Boulder goalkeeper Curtis Spiteri off his line and ricocheted off the underside of the crossbar and into the goal.

Boulder continued to create chances only to see the Cape Cod defenders snuff their shots before reaching the goal, but in the 73rd minute Jason Thompson finally struck gold.

Nine minutes into the extra frame, Cape Cod caught the Boulder defense napping on a corner kick, which the Crusaders had shown no threat with throughout the game in their six previous attempts.

Just after the short corner had been stopped on the left, Bryan Harkin regathered the ball and sent it to the far side to defender Scott Palguta, who was unmarked just inside the penalty area. Palguta laid the ball off to Schmidt who managed to squeeze the ball through a pack of bodies and into the back of the net, sending the Cape Cod faithful into an immediate celebration and giving the Crusaders their first overtime victory in six attempts on the year.