Chattanooga Football Club faced New York Red Bulls II for the first time on Sunday afternoon, and won the shootout for the extra point 7-6 after the match finished 1-1 at the end of regulation.
The result, along with other results in the Eastern Conference on Decision Day, meant that CFC narrowly missed out on a playoff spot in the club's inaugural year competing in MLS NEXT Pro.
Callum Watson opened the scoring in the sixth minute, after he stormed into the penalty area and latched onto the end of a low cross sent in by Taylor Gray.
Jean Antoine, Joseph Perez and Logan Brown made a succession of goal-line clearances right before half-time to keep CFC in front at the break.
However, New York found an equalizer through Malick Zanke Dembele in the 68th minute.
Substitute Markus Naglestad had a chance in the 89th minute when he ran through on goal and attempted a shot on target but substitute goalkeeper Alan Rutkowski made the save.
CFC won a marathon penalty shootout 7-6 to grab the extra point and finish the season on 45 points. However, due to results elsewhere, CFC fell just short of advancing to the 2024 MLS NEXT Pro Playoffs.
"I thanked the players—I came in nine days ago—it could've been easy for guys to check out or not put the effort in, but they worked hard, they listened and tried to implement some of the stuff we talked about," said interim Head Coach Chris Nugent. "I wanted them to look at the bigger picture. We didn't make the playoffs based on the entire season. Dropping points in other games, not winning games or tying, that is just as important as the one or two mistakes today. I also mentioned that all the things we enjoy as a club right now were done by people a year ago, two, four, five, 16 years ago. In five, ten and 15 years from now, the club will still be here, so we are contributing to that success and the history of it, even if it's not always with win and titles. What we do on the field and in the community, it helps the club to grow. There was a bigger picture to this, and it wasn't just the feeling of defeat today."
In 28 matches played, CFC finished the 2024 season with 1.61 points-per-game, 45 points total, nine wins, nine defeats, 10 draws, eight shootout wins and a goal differential of +3.