CARY, N.C. – A 93rd-minute goal from J.J. Williams helped No. 10 seed Birmingham Legion FC to a stunning, last-gasp 3-2 victory over No. 7 seed North Carolina FC in the Eastern Conference Play-In Round on Wednesday night at Sahlen’s Stadium at WakeMed Soccer Park.

Legion FC advances to face No. 1 seed Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC on Saturday night at Highmark Stadium in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals.

The hosts controlled the early stages of the contest as Dre Fortune forced a save out of Birmingham goalkeeper Matt Van Oekel with a low-right footed shot from distance in the 13th minute and North Carolina would go on to open the scoring just six minutes later through Nazmi Albadawi after a lovely passing move.

Marios Lomis produced a great bit of hold-up play to work the ball to Steven Miller, who waited for DJ Taylor’s overlapping run on the right wing before playing him the ball and the defender cut it back neatly for Albadawi to side-foot past a helpless Van Oekel into the bottom-left corner.

North Carolina’s lead wouldn’t last long, however, as Legion FC took advantage of a right-wing free kick to equalize against the run of play in the 35th minute. Daniel Johnson’s initial delivery was kept in play by center back Kyle Fisher and Prosper Kasim picked up the loose ball on the left side of the box before firing a low drive across the six-yard box, which found its way to Femi Hollinger-Janzen to tap home past NCFC goalkeeper Alex Tambakis from close range.

Van Oekel made a pair of important saves on either side of halftime to keep the game level, denying Fortune’s first-time right-footed drive from the top of the box three minutes before the break and showing off a strong left hand to palm Albadawi’s effort to safety shortly after the second-half restart.

Birmingham started to look the more dangerous side early in the second half as Anderson Asiedu found Kasim in some space on the left and NCFC midfielder Graham Smith made an important challenge to throw off the forward’s timing as he tried a low shot from the left side of the six-yard box. Kasim found himself in a shooting position again moments later, but just dragged a left-footed effort wide of the far post.