The team from El Mirage, Arizona sit atop the league as though it were Mt Olympus - Olympians FC are the 2022 Fall Champions! We logged into Vyre to watch it all go down in at the Championship Stadium at Great Park Sports Complex. Ryan Stallings walks us through the first semi final and Josh Duder tells about the second - Ryan returns to lay out how the final match went down…

Santa Cruz FC from New England take on SC Heat from the Mid-Atlantic

Santa Cruz FC vs SCU Heat

02/03/23 at 5:30 pm (PST) from the Championship Soccer Stadium at Great Park Sports Complex

Coming into the first semifinal, the storylines for the two competitors reflected opposite paths to the match. For South Carolina United, the Fall ’22 season has been a tale of dominance, going undefeated in Mid-Atlantic conference regular season play while scoring 54 goals and allowing just 7. Their script remained largely unaltered through the postseason, with only Spring ’22 Finalist Beaman United of Nashville, TN giving the Heat a close contest through five playoff contests. The story for Santa Cruz has been one of redemption, as a couple midseason stumbles at home to Ole FC and Boston Street FC in the New England conference saw them finish behind Ole in the final regular season standings. From there, Santa Cruz has clawed a steady climb through the postseason in the Northeast Region. They first exacted revenge on the earlier home loss to Ole with a bit of the opponent’s own medicine, defeating the New England champs 2-1. From there, Santa Cruz used the benefit of three-straight home stands to pull away from the DMV, NE American and Midwest representatives in turn and punch the first of the four Final Four spots.

At the early kickoff in Irvine on Friday night, those two paths collided. One couldn’t be faulted for assuming the South Carolinian side would continue their more dominant performances in the early minutes, but it was Santa Cruz side that first pieced together a promising attacking sequence, patiently working down their right before a pull back cross to a trailing midfielder, who unleashed a shot that passed just above the crossbar. For much of the first half, the Heat were content to cede possession to Santa Cruz, and the Massachusetts side were highly successful in their linking play throughout the midfield. However, South Carolina didn’t allow Santa Cruz another clear chance until the final minute of the half, and proved ferocious on the counter, creating four chances of their own while forcing some incomparable work from the Santa Cruz goalkeeper to keep the match scoreless at half.

The sides returned for the second half and maintained their respective first half tones in the early going, Santa Cruz controlling the possession with neat passing and smart linking play through the middle third of the pitch, but not finding a real means of danger in their attacking third while the South Region champs countered with multiple shots on goal in the first few minutes. By the 60’, South Carolina began to dial up their intensity and pressing higher up the pitch, disrupting the previous Santa Cruz advantages in possession and midfield control. The Heat were rewarded for their efforts, first with a clear shot on goal (and another remarkable save from the Santa Cruz keeper) in the 68’, an unfortunate miss in the 78’, and finally a breakthough as Alejo Benaghi slipped past the right side of Santa Cruz backline and tapped a shot past the keeper inside the near post to break the scoreless deadlock in the 80’. The score only emboldened the Heat, as they nearly scored again in the 84’, all the while suffocating Santa Cruz in the defensive third to remove chances, and hopes, for an equalizer. The game settled into stalemate, as even through eight additional minutes the Santa Cruz attack couldn’t break down the South Carolina defense to manage a chance.

The path bult on steady dominance continues into the championship game on Sunday, while the tale of scrappy resilience will again seek to climb out of a negative result and find redemption in the third place match.

Olympians FC out of Arizona go head-to-head with Rush ACM3 of West Texas/New Mexico

Olympians FC vs rush acm3

02/03/23 at 8:30 pm (PST) from the Championship Soccer Stadium at Great Park Sports Complex

The soccer gods looked down upon the Olympians after a long season of dominance in their division and granted them the power to move onto the Final of the UPSL 2022 Fall season - but the path would be dangerous and Rush ACM3 stood in their way. It would be a high-energy contest in dramatic contrast to the first semifinal of the evening. The temperature was dipping, even though its Southern California, its still February after all and the best way to stay warm was to get hot.

Both Olympians FC and Rush ACM3 came out red hot - both came out to win, as opposed to playing not to lose. The team from El Mirage, Arizona - Olympians FC - pressed from kick off and scored early, as though it was inevitable. Victor Rodriguez showed real class with quick decisions and ripped off quick shots. However, El Paso, Texas’ Rush ACM3 showed great technical ability on the ball and looked to pass and dart around themselves. They were rewarded with a goal of their own after displaying end-to-end passing and Astorga took his shot from well outside the box, skipping below the keeper to make it 1s each.

The Rush defense was prone to mistakes, however, and the Olympians relentless physicality was creating turnovers. Rush remained undeterred, however, and took advantage of a terrible goalkeeping mistake in the 16’ - Rush went up 2-1. The lead wouldn’t last long, though, because in the 22’ Gomez was allowed to carry the ball deep into the left side of the box before putting in a powerful cross with his left foot. Rodriguez bodied the ball home and the sides were even again. The Olympians continued to be physical, not dirty, but playing real tough, close, and personal when pressuring Rush players.

With the clock ticking away toward the end of the first half, in the 41’, Olympians get a restart at midfield, switch the pitch, and again attack down the left flank; the cross this time is higher but the result is a headed goal and now Olympians are up 3-2. This time it’s playoffs leading scorer, Dawoda Sesay, who puts in another shot on goal, its stopped but Rush cannot regain the ball and Sesay gets a chance to swing it to his left, where a teammate simply passes the ball into the goal, right between the post and the keeper, 4-2.

We see continued pressure in the second half, and Rush are starting to get frustrated - it turns into chippyness, pushing, and yellow cards. Under unrelenting pressure, Olympians cause another critical turnover in the 58’; Sesay knocks the ball loose right in the middle of Rush’s defensive third, Cardoza then plays it into the space in the left-channel and its again send it past the Rush keeper to make it a seemingly unsurmountable 5-2. At this point, Rush make a change in the goal - not that the keeper has done very much wrong; despite the tally, a lot of this rests on the defense in front of him. Nonetheless, Rush put a new man in-between the sticks.

Along with the fresh player, is a reinvigorate mentality as well! In the 66’ Rush bring one back; playing with a sense of urgency, Rush return to quick, technical passes and unlock the Olympians defense with brilliant left-footed shot, across his body to the far right post to make it 5-3. For the next quarter of an hour, Rush do better to retain possession and keep Olympians at bay. In the 80’ Rush launch a ball in the box - its collected on the right side of the 18 and the ball slips back out wide right. The winger circles round to get in behind the defender along the touchline and sends in a long cross. Its collected by the keeper but dropped! Rush tumble into the dropped ball and it rolls gently into goal to make it 5-4 with the game very much on.

Rush continue to lay on pressure and in the dying moments of the match, have one last go but it goes out for a throw and the match expires - Olympians move on to the final, but they were made to work for their prize and are set to play SC Heat to determine UPSL’s champion.

After viewing both semifinal matches, I was certain of championship contest that would showcase high-flying attacking play from both sides, and some seminal moments of defensive work rate. After seeing Olympians FC’s overwhelming offensive firepower in a five-goals-to-four track meet with ACM Rush, and number one overall seed SCU Heat’s patient constriction of Sant Cruz on Friday, I believed the sides would open up and go full tilt with the national title trophy on the line.

Instead, whether it was from the quick turnaround between the Friday and the title match, or a respectful acknowledgement of the opponents’ prowess, the opening half saw the sides content to ease into the contest. The Olympians and Heat worked long sequences of possession from their backlines forward, across and back again through the pitch without any immediacy toward goal. After the initial ten minutes, the Olympians moved to a higher press and the pace of the game changed as the Arizona side made earlier transitions and began prying at the South Carolinians’ back eight with runs and services down the sides and into the attacking corners.

The more aggressive move into the attacking third space, while shifting the holding positions forward in Olympians favor, didn’t bear fruit in the way of notable chances, as the Heat continued to play competent, calm, defense, tackling the ball away and moving across the pitch in some measured counters. But here too, the Heat themselves were frustrated, as their chances were limited to a couple set piece chances that both went far wide of the goal. The first real action either keeper would see came for the Heat GK in the 26’, as Olympians managed a pair of ambitious shots from far outside the eighteen yard box. But met the keeper’s hands at a slow roll. The created opportunity seemed to invigorate the Arizonians however, as they rapidly countered again a minute later, an accurate cross deep into the box only just missed on a diving header attempt. From there, the final fifteen minutes of the match evolved into a track meet of futile counters, and the teams exited the pitch at half with the scoreboard reflecting the nil-nil score.

The second half began much like the first had, each team settling into comfortable rhythm, reacquainting themselves with the opponent’s press and response. Olympians again were the first to shake the pace of the match with a shift to the higher press they exhibited earlier in the game, and overall possession of the ball began to tilt heavily in their favor. The men from El Mirage relied heavily in their wing play in attack, and while their interplay into the attacking thirds succeeded, reward in the final ball into the box eluded them. For all their defensive work rate, the Heat couldn’t mount any significant response as their vaunted counter attack’s communication seemed to be off throughout the second half and their offensive chances were limited to over – lifted crosses and easy tackles for the Olympian side.

The sides felt destined to see out an extra time if some highlight moment couldn’t be found in the defensive deadlock. Olympians sought that moment in the dying minutes, their pressing play rewarded with a couple corners. The second was punched away by the Heat keeper, but fell outside the eighteen to an Olympian back. His service was met by a SCU defender, but the contested clearance fell to an Olympian in the center of the box, who aligned himself over the ball and released a sure effort that glanced off the bottom of the crossbar and into the back netting in the 90thminute!

SCU looked for an equalizer that wasn’t to be found in the additional seven minutes of play, their best chances sailing out the back or mishit directly to defender before them. The final whistle sounded and the Arizona fan contingent stormed the field in celebration. Three years since the Olympians lost the national title game in penalties, they ensured there would not be PKs this time in brilliant 90th minute fashion.

Protagonist Soccer’s Post-Season Coverage of UPSL
by Ryan Stallings and Joshua Duder