Atlanta United 2 wrapped up by far their best-ever regular season with a 4-2 win at Orlando City B on Sunday and clinched the club’s maiden playoff berth in the process.
It took barely two minutes for the man responsible for so much of Atlanta’s drastic reversal of fortunes this season to leave his mark on the game, as Arif Kovac tapped home a Cameron Dunbar cross from point-blank range to open the scoring with his league-leading 20th goal of the season. But Issah Haruna, who scored Orlando’s solitary goal when Atlanta trounced them 5-1 in their last meeting, continued to be a thorn in Atlanta’s side as he drew the hosts level in the 18th minute.
Luck would prove to be on Atlanta’s side just before the half-hour mark, when the ball bounced off multiple Orlando players as they tried to defend a corner and eventually went in as an own goal from Harvey Sarajian to put the visitors back in front. Dunbar put another cross on a platter for an easy tap-in 10 minutes later, this time from Ignacio Suarez-Couri, to double the advantage. But the Lions and Haruna showed their resilience, as he assisted Justin Hylton’s long range strike in stoppage time to halve the deficit and bring an action-packed first half to a close. Dominik Chong Qui restored Atlanta’s two-goal cushion in the 63rd minute, and from there Atlanta simply managed the final minutes before they could start the celebrations.
This win concludes without question the best regular season Atlanta United 2 have ever had. It puts them on a final tally of 48 points, good enough for third in the Eastern Conference. Much more importantly, though, it punches their first-ever ticket to the playoffs, a monumental achievement for a club that had languished more or less as an afterthought for most of their existence in both the USL Championship and MLS NEXT Pro. As a reward for their top-four finish, Atlanta will get to choose their opponent for their first home playoff game among whoever of the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth or ninth seeds hasn’t yet been picked.
Kovac and Dunbar also made some individual history for which they were duly recognized. Kovac’s 20 goals not only officially won him the Golden Boot, but they also tied for the second-highest single-season total in league history. Dunbar’s pair of assists brought him to 13 on the season to equal a league record, for which he was named the league’s Playmaker of the Year.
This loss is quite literally season-ending for Orlando. They already had very little margin for error with 44 points in a jam-packed playoff race in the East, but Huntsville City leapfrogged them into the final play-in spot with a regulation win. Orlando will be watching the playoffs at home for the second-straight year, a worrying sign of regression after finishing fifth each of the two seasons prior to last.
Atlanta will have almost a month to savor their historic success. They’ll pick their opponent on Wednesday, but the match won’t actually take place until Oct. 18.
UPDATE: The playoff match has been moved to Oct. 16.