San Antonio Athenians SC, the Southwest Conference champions, played Santa Clarita Blue Heat the West Conference champions last night, with the winner going on to play CT Fusion in the UWS National Championship. Some also could say, the match was set up to be an epic battle of California versus Texas to determine who is the best state in soccer. This match went to California early in the game.

To start, both teams were comfortable and built possession. Respect was given to each opponent while they settled in and figured out how to dismantle each other. Six minutes in and Santa Clarita had a nice through ball on the ground to the young Gisele Thompson who beat her defender. Two steps was all she needed before scoring. San Antonio managed to get into the offensive third with a few promising attacks in response to the goal. Minute 17 Santa Clarita found the back of the net again, this time by Jamaican international Sade to Lena Silano to put them up 2-0. Alyssa Thompson raced past the San Antonio defense to finish the bounce of goalkeeper Mia Wildeman’s sliding attempted save. Lena Silano had the through pass to set up the third goal.

In the first half San Antonio wasn’t able to capitalize on the transition. They needed to make the quick transition as a team instead of relying on the forward to win the ball and hold up play or beat defenders and go on goal. Both teams had good players who earned this trip to the Final Four and you saw moments of opportunity for San Antonio in the first half. Watching the game you were optimistic that if they could get one early in the second half this could be anyone’s game. San Antonio made several changes to start the first half with substitutions and a formation change. I was happy to see San Antonio going for it converting it to 3 in the back to move a player into the attack.

Santa Clarita never allowed San Antonio to get into the game in the second half. The quality of players on this Santa Clarita team really became apparent. Players have NWSL and national team experience (one with an Olympic bronze medal) that they were able to bring to the field to manage the second half. San Antonio was the recipient of several direct free kicks on dangerous areas, but neglected to convert them, or worse they just sailed over the crossbar. Set pieces are critical to take advantage of and score from especially in the stifling environment that Santa Clarita created.

Throughout the second half the subs for San Antonio began to make a change and bring some intensity to the field. Mia Wildeman had a strong performance and made a number of challenging saves, diving and deflecting the ball away from the goal. She limited the number of opportunities that Santa Clarita had. The Athenians just couldn’t find an answer to Alyssa and Gisele Thompson. Santa Clarita’s sisters had composure and speed on the ball far beyond their age. They deftly escaped their defenders, leaving them watching their backs as they navigated toward goal.

Santa Clarita started to manage the load of their players and brought on several subs. Minute 78 saw the team’s leading goal scorer Angel Escobar come on the field and score five minutes later. Santa Clarita’s fourth goal was a beautiful piece of teamwork, passing the ball with confidence around in the penalty area leading to a finish by Escobar.

Santa Clarita Blue Heat finished the game 4-0 moving on to play Connecticut Fusion in the 2021 UWS National Championship on Sunday, July 25, 2021 at 11 AM CST.

- Danielle Gawronski