Austin FC Survives Epic Playoff Debut as Driussi, Stuver Shine

The Q2 crowd celebrates Austin FC's first-ever MLS Cup playoffs appearance – and win (photo by Jana Birchum)

If there was a script for Austin FC’s first MLS Cup Playoff game, it surely did not include conceding two Real Salt Lake goals in the opening 15 minutes.

Or maybe it did. And maybe it also included Sebastian Driussi, the club’s cool-as-ice MVP candidate, scoring a brace to force the match to penalty kicks, and maybe it included Brad Stuver, the career-backup-turned-folk-hero goalkeeper, making two huge saves in the shootout to secure a 19th match for the Verde and Black at Q2 Stadium.

Who wouldn’t want to watch that screenplay? A near-three-hour epic from opening kickoff to RSL winger Tate Schmitt’s clinching penalty miss that landed somewhere in Bastrop County, if it landed at all, seen by 20,578 in person and countless more in homes and bars around the Texas capital. Quite the premiere for the MLS Cup Playoffs in ATX.

“Emotional,” head coach Josh Wolff summarized. “Resiliency, teamwork, collective – our roots on display always.”

Austin FC players celebrate winning the club's first playoff match by way of penalty shootout (photo by Jana Birchum)

When you really think about it, of course El Tree gave up two first-half goals to RSL striker Sergio Córdova before coming all the way back to advance to the Western Conference final four. Comebacks were a theme of the club’s regular season, winning three matches in which they trailed at some point by two goals. Sunday was the fourth, setting the MLS record.

“It’s kind of our trademark,” Wolff joked in his postgame remarks.

The difference in the 90 minutes was the difference every time Austin FC has lined up in 2022: They have Sebastián Driussi, and their opponents don’t. The Argentine headed home a Diego Fagundez cross in the 31st minute to defibrillate an anxious Q2 crowd and halve the RSL lead.

However, the home side still trailed at halftime, when Wolff opted for a triple-substitution of attacking players. That much, he could control. What he couldn’t anticipate was RSL striker Rubio Rubin, already on a yellow card, torpedoing after a hopeless ball toward Stuver and catching the goalkeeper forcibly enough to draw a second yellow and ensuing red card in the 52nd minute. Stuver did his part to make sure the contact didn’t go unnoticed.

“We had talked about it at halftime, we made everyone aware that Justin Glad and Rubio both had a yellow card,” Stuver said. “When he was running full-tilt at me I was a little confused, and then he slid, and I just kind of stayed in there and got caught for it. I don’t know what he was thinking in that moment.” “Got a nice little bruise on my shin,” he half-boasted.

Small price to pay for reducing the opponent to 10 men. RSL hardly saw the ATX half of the field from that point on, reverting to an ultra-low block of all-out defense that survived every Verde attack through normal time. Midseason DP acquisition Emiliano Rigoni helped the RSL cause by missing two A+ chances in front of goal, one of which brought back memories of USA’s Chris Wondolowski at the 2014 World Cup.

But in the second minute of stoppage time, Rigoni fired a right-footed volley that struck defender Scott Caldwell in the arm, and referee Victor Rivas pointed straight to the penalty spot. It was the opportunity Austin FC had been desperately chasing, but it still needed to be converted. Druissi handled that effortlessly to level the score and extend both the match and the Austin FC season.

Driussi found the back of the net twice during the 30 minute period of extra time, but both were waved off for infringements in the buildup. The first MLS Cup Playoffs match in Austin history required the first penalty shootout in Austin FC history to determine a winner.

Goalkeeper Brad Stuver takes a well-earned victory lap (photo by Jana Birchum)

Driussi, Fagundez, and Rigoni all scored for the Verde and Black, but the moment belonged to Stuver. He guessed right on all of RSL’s first spot kicks, saving two, including one outrageous fingertip deflection onto the crossbar. “I got really nervous because I knew I saved it, but I didn’t know if it was going to, like, come down into the goal because it was still moving and still had a chance to go in.” It didn’t. The ball came to rest inches from the goal line. Stuver wasn’t needed for Tate’s sky-high miss to seal the match, so you can credit that save to the Verde Wall.

Once requisite celebrations have passed, Austin FC will turn its attention to the winner of Monday night’s match between Minnesota United and FC Dallas. Wolff wouldn’t say which team he hopes to face, but it’s no secret whose season the Verde Faithful would prefer to end, and they play in Frisco. Whoever the opponent, Austin FC earned itself one more match inside Q2 Stadium, scheduled for 7pm CT on Sunday, Oct. 23. Good luck to whoever is tasked with writing the sequel, though. They have a hell of an act to follow.

For more Austin FC news and analysis, visit The Austin Chronicle's Austin FC hub. Follow “The Verde Report” columnist Eric Goodman on Twitter: @goodman.