SC DEL SOL REPEATS AS DESERT CONFERENCE CHAMPIONS

Written By:  Andrew Mosier

SC del Sol has won the Desert Conference for a second consecutive season thanks to a pair of 1-0 wins in the final weekend of league play. Del Sol finished the regular season 6-2-0 (18 points). 

On Friday, the Phoenix-based del Sol put itself into contention by eliminating longtime rival FC Tucson (3-2-3, 12 points) with a hard-fought 1-0 win in the club’s regular-season finale after a 56^th-minute goal by Tatum Thomason (University of Washington). The win put del Sol at the top of the conference standings with 15 points.

Twenty-four hours later, del Sol was back in action at cross-town rival, Arizona Arsenal SC, needing a win to earn the conference title outright. A win for Arsenal would have put it level with del Sol with 15 points.

Entering Saturday’s match, Arsenal sat in fourth place in the Desert Conference with 12 points, tied with FC Tucson but with a game in hand, and a point ahead of Royals AZ, which closed out its season Saturday night with an 8-1 won over El Paso Surf to vault the Royals into second place with 14 points.

An Arsenal win over del Sol would have forced a tiebreaker where Del Sol held the head-to-head advantage – beating Arsenal 2-1 earlier in the season behind goals by Thomason and Kasie Vigil (Utah State University). Additionally, an Arsenal win by more than three goals would have complicated matters considerably.

Fortunately for the reigning conference champions, it did not come to that. After a shaking opening quarter of an hour by both sides, del Sol took the lead in the 20th minute and held it, fending off wave after wave of the Arsenal attack.

The win not only put del Sol through to the West Region Semifinals on July 15, but also serving as hosts. All three games of the West Regional Playoffs will kick off at the Legacy Sports Park in Mesa, Ariz.

Also qualified for the West Region tournament are Northwest Conference winner, Westside Metros FC from Beaverton, Ore., So Cal Conference winners, SoCal Red FC from Irvine, Calif., and defending WPSL National Champions and PAC North Conference winners, California Storm. The winner of the West Region Final on July 16 advances to the WPSL Championship in Stillwater, Okla. July 22 and 23.