SAN ANTONIO — Minnesota Stars FC won the chance Sunday to continue its defense of the NASL championship.
The Stars scored twice in the second half, rallying past San Antonio for a 2-1 victory in the Scorpions' Heroes Stadium. The Stars (10-11-10) and Scorpions (13-9-8) had tied 0-0 in the first game of the total-goal series.
The Stars, seeded sixth in the playoffs, will play the Tampa Bay Rowdies, the second seed, in the two-game, total-goal NASL championship series starting Saturday at National Sports Center in Blaine.
Simone Bracalello scored the winner in the 81st minute.
Minnesota played more than an hour with a man advantage after NASL Golden Boot winner Pablo Campos drew a red card for head-butting Stars captain Kyle Altman after a foul.
Campos had scored the Scorpions' goal in the first half, a minute before his moment of anger.
"It changed the game, in both ways," Stars coach Manny Lagos said. "They had to sit back and defend, and we knew we would have chances to move forward and have opportunities to control the game."
The Stars' first goal came in the 76th minute, when a cross by Neil Hlavaty bounced off the back of the Scorpions' Blake Wagner and into the goal.
