Orlando City's Kevin Molino wasn't even supposed to be at the Lions' match against visiting Newcastle United Saturday night.
Molino, who was scheduled to play for Trinidad and Tobago's U-23 national team in an Olympic qualifying game last week in Dominica, missed his flight Monday due to a misunderstanding and was left off Trinidad's roster.
The mistake ended up working out for Molino and the Lions, as the 21-year-old forward scored the game-winning goal to give Orlando City a 1-0 exhibition victory over the visiting English Premier League squad in front of a season-high 10,889 fans at the Citrus Bowl.
"It's an incredible feeling," Molino said. "Everything happens for a reason. … I'm going to cherish this for the rest of my life."
Molino entered the match as a sub in the 46th minute. At that point, Orlando City was struggling to create scoring opportunities despite keeping pace with the Magpies, who were missing several key players, including Joey Barton and Hatem Ben Arfa.
But midway through the second half, the momentum started to turn in favor of the Lions.
Orlando City saw its chance to take the lead go just left of the post, twice, as shots by Matt Luzunaris and Lewis Neal failed to find the back of the net.
Then in the 76th minute, Molino and fellow substitute Dennis Chin, a former Rollins and Oviedo High standout, connected for one of the biggest goals in the club's short history.
Chin got the ball in the box with space before finding a running Molino, who put the ball in the back of the net.
The goal sparked several more near-goals for Orlando City, which will resume USL Pro League play August 3 at home against Charleston.
"I wanted to make sure we gave a good account of ourselves and we did more than that," Lions manager Adrian Heath said.