Soccer Bowl 2015
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| Event | Soccer Bowl | ||||||
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| Date | November 15, 2015 | ||||||
| Venue |
Shuart Stadium, Hempstead, New York |
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| Man of the Match | Gastón Cellerino (NYC) | ||||||
| Referee | Alan Kelly | ||||||
| Attendance | 10,166 (NASL Playoff Record) |
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| Weather | Clear skies 55 °F (13 °C) |
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Soccer Bowl 2015 is the North American Soccer League's postseason championship match of the 2015 season which determined the NASL Champion.
The New York Cosmos became the first club to earn a place in the Soccer Bowl Championship after securing the 2015 Spring Championship with a 3–3 draw at home against Jacksonville on June 13. The Fall Championship would be clinched by the Ottawa Fury on October 21 with a comeback 3–1 away win, also against the Armada. This would be Fury's first championship as a professional club and would make them the first Canadian club to appear in the Soccer Bowl playoffs since 2011. The final two playoff spots would be taken by Minnesota United and the Fort Lauderdale Strikers.
The race for the North American Supporters' Trophy would quickly boil down to three clubs: the Cosmos, the Fury and Minnesota United. These clubs pulled away from the rest of the league during the Fall season, and would repeatedly switch positions as the season came to a close. Ultimately it came down to the last matchday, as New York took advantage of a 1–1 Ottawa away draw against the Atlanta Silverbacks to win the league by an incredibly close margin. The Cosmos defeated the Tampa Bay Rowdies 2–0, giving them and the Fury an identical record of 15–11–4, as well as an identical goal differential of +19. The Cosmos would secure the league title on goals for, of which they had 49 compared to Ottawa's 42. This also secured New York the top seed in the championship, matching Ottawa up against Minnesota in the other semi-final while the Cosmos played the Strikers, who would finish the season twelve points behind the Loons.
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