The following are the results of the round of 16 in the D3 Pro League playoffs: South Jersey-Western Mass (2-3). The Western Mass Pioneers have the South Jersey Barons’ number in the postseason. In all six regular-season meetings between the clubs, South Jersey has been victorious, but the postseason has been a different story. Western Mass won the D3 Pro League National Championship last year with a 2-1 victory over the Barons in the final. In the first round of the 2000 playoffs, the Pioneers, seeded last in the tournament, downed the fourth-seeded Barons in overtime. Western Mass forward Rob Jachym stunned the Barons with two first-half goals for a 2-0 lead at halftime. The Barons came back to tie the game in the second half with two goals from Kevin Kelly, the second after going a man down. Fourteen minutes into the first sudden-death overtime period, Ricardo Monje scored the gamewinner on a counter attack for the Pioneers. New Hampshire-Reading (2-3). The 12th-seeded Reading Rage upset the Phantoms. Reading knocked the Phantoms out of the postseason with goals from three different players in their 3-2 win. Eric Puls set up Robert Henes for the first goal of the game in the 10th minute. New Hampshire’s Mike Keevan tied the game just before halftime with a goal in the 44th minute. Reading took a 3-1 lead early in the second half when Neil Stoddart scored in the 52nd minute followed by a goal from Puls a minute later. The Phantoms closed the score to 3-2 in the 59th minute with a goal from Jamie Williams but were unable to catch the Rage. Texas-Carolina (2-4). The second-seeded Texas Rattlers were eliminated the Dynamo. Texas took a 2-0 lead with goals from Wilco Ravestijn and Dwayne Kilpatrick in the 50th and 55th minutes after losing Boyce Morrow to a red card in the 40th minute. But, Carolina came back with four unanswered goals to win, 4-2. Dynamo forward Jose Espindola led Carolina’s charge late in the second half with back-to-back goals a minute apart in the 75th and 76th minutes to level the score, 2-2. Midfielder Vince Bueno scored the game-winner for Carolina in the 82nd minute on an assist from defender Sean Finn, his second assist of the night. In the final moments, Espindola set up Jason Haupt for a stoppage-time goal to cap the game. In a bizarre pregame accident, a bird flew into a nearby transformer. The bird burst into flames while shorting power to the neighborhood, including half of the field’s lights and scoreboard. It then fell to the ground, starting a waist-high grassfire that resulted in the arrival of the fire department. Wilmington-Charlotte (1-3). The Eagles knocked out the Hammerheads, who were seeded third. Wilmington Hammerheads took the lead after a scoreless first half when Chuck Panos scored in the 60th minute on an assist from George Corrie. Charlotte then scored three unanswered goals for the 3-1 win with midfielder Jeff Johnson leading the way. Johnson scored in the 77th minute to tie the game and then again in the 81st with what proved to be the winner. Nate Watkins, who set up the game-winner, connected with Dustin Swinehart in the 86th minute for the final tally. Chico-Stanislaus (3-2). Chico scored three minutes into their match against Stanislaus United when Jake Gwin set up Felipe Ternero for the first goal. Gwin scored the second goal of the match in the 79th minute to take a 2-0 lead. Stanislaus came back to tie the game with goals from Fadi Afash on a penalty kick and Mike Descombaz in the 83rd and 87th minutes, respectively, to send the game into overtime. In the 118th minute, Chico midfielder Joe Munoz scored the golden goal for the win on an assist from German Campos. Utah-Tucson (1-0). The Blitzz nipped the Fireballs with an 89th minute goal by B.J. McNicol on an assist from Richard Breza for a 1-0 win. Schedule All times Eastern SOUTHERN CONFERENCE FridayÆs Game #10-Carolina Dynamo vs. #6-Charlotte Eagles at Davidson College, 7:30 WESTERN CONFERENCE SaturdayÆs Game #7-Utah Blitzz @ #5-Chico Rooks, 4:00 NORTHERN CONFERENCE SaturdayÆs Game #12-Reading Rage @ #13-Western Mass Pioneers, 7:30
