The Georgia Revolution's third National Premier Soccer League season came to an end in an auspicious way Saturday.
The Conyers' based National Premier Soccer League team needed to win each of its final three games - all at home - in order to have a chance to advance to the 2013 South Conference playoffs and held up its end of the bargain.
However, the other team that needed to comply, the Jacksonville United FC, did not. Jacksonville needed to lose one of its last three games, but instead defeated Miami 4-0 June 21, the Tampa Marauders 1-0 June 29 and Tampa again, 2-1 Friday.
The Revolution defeated Cape Coral 7-1 at the RYSA Soccerplex June 29 to set the tone for the season's final stretch.
Georgia then handed the Miami United a 4-1 loss last Tuesday, July 2, and needed a win over the Tampa Marauders, who tied
Georgia, 2-2, in Florida June 7. However, by game time Saturday, Georgia's fate was already sealed.
"We needed to win the last three games games to have a chance, and Jacksonville needed to drop a game and they did not," Revolution General Manger Rafe Mauran said.
The Mauraders came in on a wet weekend, and Saturday's game was delayed three hours by the lightning as workers squeegeed water off a soaked field.
The match originally delayed in the 2nd minute, was set to kick off again at 10 p.m., but the effort was abandoned with a 0-0 draw.
Georgia's fate was almost sealed early on in the season as Jacksonville defeated the Revs in Florida 1-0 May 24, before a wild 5-3 victory over the RYSA-owned team in Rockdale June 1.
"I Think the guys did well and performed well, we just had two early losses to the same team and that kind of killed our chances," Mauran said.
Jacksonville, which came into existence the same year as the Georgia Revolution, 2011, won the national championship last season.
"They're a good team and they have some really good technical players," Mauran said. "They have older guys with experience, which helps them win some close games."
It marks the second time in Georgia's three years of existence, that the Revolution missed the playoffs.
In 2012, the Georgia Revolution reached the division final, after winning the South Division, hosting Chattanooga FC for the Southeastern Conference championship. Chattanooga won, after a 45-minute lightning delay, and earned a spot in the NPSL semifinals.
In its first season, Georgia was second place in the South Division to eventual champion Jacksonville United.
The Revolution may be done with the NPSL schedule, but they have one more game at RYSA, an exhibition game against the Atlanta Silverbacks July 19.
Lady Revs enter playoffs
While the Revolution men's side missed out on the postseason, the Lady Rev's are in the playoffs for the second straight year.
The Georgia Revolution won seven games, topping the Gulf Coast Texans and Alabama F.C. in the Southeast Division, earning a spot in the conference playoffs in Pensacola, Fla., this weekend.
The Lady Rev's face Alabama in the conference semifinals Friday, with a chance to play in the finals Saturday. If Georgia makes it past both those matches,a it will earn a spot in the national semifinals.
"They're very consistent and steady," Mauran said of the Lady Rev's. "They don't have any superstar players, but a lot of overall good solid soccer players, who play well together.
"As they go on, they get better and I'm excited to see this weekend and hope they get a couple of wins and make some noise."
