HARRISON, N.J. – As the team huddled ahead of the start of overtime, New York Red Bulls II Coach John Wolyniec’s voice wasn’t the one leading the group.

That would have been captain and goalkeeper Ryan Meara, who could be seen imploring his teammates to raise their games against the defending USL champion Rochester Rhinos with another 30 minutes of action ahead of them.

“I’ll be honest I didn’t say much,” said Wolyniec following Friday night’s Eastern Conference Semifinal at Red Bull Arena. “What’s great about this group is a lot of guys stepped up and said things, Ryan was a great leader out there.”

The words translated into deeds. After falling behind with 10 minutes to go when Rochester’s Wal Fall fired home a header, the Red Bulls II pushed to extend their season. A late penalty kick earned by Dan Metzger was converted by Brandon Allen for his second goal of the game to make it 3-3, and send the game to a penalty shootout.

Then, with the Rhinos having missed to open the fourth round, both Metzger and Konrad Plewa kept their composure to convert, and send New York on to its first Eastern Conference Final with a 5-4 victory in the shootout. An overtime substitute, Plewa was one of the players Wolyniec knew he wanted to step to the spot with the game on the line.

After playing to a pair of scoreless draws in the prior two meetings at Red Bull Arena, Friday night’s game offered a major contrast as the Rhinos’ upper hand in the series between the two sides overall appeared to play into an opening that Wolyniec called “jittery”.

It resulted in a glut of goals, as Allen and Steevan Dos Santos each scored twice for their respective sides, and the Red Bulls II defense was not nearly as airtight as it had been during the regular season. While the performance wasn’t the team’s sharpest, Wolyniec was delighted with the fight his side showed to advance.  

“We knew we were going to be up against a great opponent, we knew it was going to be a tough test,” Wolyniec said. “The best thing about the effort, though, was that we just kept fighting, kept going. Even when things looked the darkest we were still pushing forward and we pull off a play in the end to tie it up, and you go five for five in PKs, shows a lot of character in the guys.”

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That type of character shone through both in the shootout, where the Red Bulls II converted confidently on all five shots, and in the huddle. Now they side will await the winner of Saturday’s second Eastern Conference Semifinal between Louisville City FC and the Charleston Battery ready to rise to the next challenge.

“The great thing about being a coach is seeing guys step up and say things and you don’t have to,” Wolyniec said. “It’s a proud moment for me and those types of things show character and depth in the team, and that’s what carried us through in the end.”