CINCINNATI — Matt Freese made three saves in a nine-round shootout and New York City FC defeated Roman Celentano and FC Cincinnati 6-6 after the clubs played to a scoreless draw due to rubber match regulations on Saturday. Matt Freese made three saves and Micha Ilenic scored the winning goal. in a best-of-three first-round series.
Sixth-seeded NYCFC defeated third-seeded Cincinnati and will now host rival seventh-seeded New York Red Bulls in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Freeze made four saves in regulation in his third postseason start for NYCFC. He saved shootout shots from Pavel Boucha, Gerardo Valenzuela and Teenage Hadebe.
Celentano, who had one save in regulation, saved shots from NYCFC captain Thiago Martins and Kevin O'Toole in the final minutes, but could not stop Ilenic.
This was Celentano's ninth career postseason start, all with Cincinnati.
Freeze made one more start in the playoffs — in 2021, filling in for Andre Blake of the Philadelphia Union, who was sidelined with COVID-19.
Cincinnati defeated NYCFC 1-0 in the opening game at home, but lost 3-1 in the second game on the road.
