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 Madison's top amateur men's league will crown its 2011 champions Friday night, with the Madison Soccer Association playoff finals set for Breese Stevens Field.
The Division 1 final at 8 p.m. pits top-seeded Team Paradigm (13-1-2) against second-seeded Madison Fire (9-3-3) in a rematch of last year's championship – Paradigm won that game 2-1 thanks to an 85th-minute goal. This season, the teams tied 3-3 back in May and Paradigm won 3-2 on Sept. 11.
Team Paradigm outlasted fourth-seeded Madison United FC 1-0 in extra time in last Friday's semifinals, scoring the game-winner despite being down to 10 men after a red card. They head into the final having won all 10 of their matches this fall and 11 in a row dating to the spring.
The Fire, meanwhile, dropped third-seeded Madison Eagle 4-1 in the other semifinal to advance to the final for the seventh time in the past eight seasons. They won MSA titles in 2005, '06, '08 and '09 and have been runners-up in 2004 and '10.
In Division 2, defending champion and third-seeded Sharpshooters (10-6-1) also have a chance to repeat after they ended a five-game losing streak with a 3-0 victory over second-seeded Madison United Juniors in the semifinals last Sunday.
They'll face the top-seeded Wisconsin Wizards (13-3-1), who advanced past fourth-seeded Epic FC, at 6 p.m. Friday. The Wizards and Sharpshooters split their regular-season meetings, with the Sharpshooters winning 6-1 back in May and the Wizards prevailing 3-2 on Oct. 16.
MADISON SOCCER ASSOCIATION PLAYOFFS Division 1
Semifinals
No. 2 Madison Fire 4, No. 3 Madison Eagle 1
No. 1 Team Paradigm 1, No. 4 Madison United FC 0 AET
Friday's championship
At Breese Stevens Field
No. 1 Team Paradigm (13-1-2) vs. No. 2 Madison Fire (9-3-3), 8 p.m.
Division 2
Play-in game
No. 4 Epic FC 2, No. 5 World Players 1
Semifinals
No. 3 Sharpshooters 3, No. 2 Madison United Juniors 0
No. 1 Wisconsin Wizards def. No. 4 Epic FC, score not available
Friday's championship
At Breese Stevens Field
No. 1 Wisconsin Wizards (13-3-1) vs. No. 3 Sharpshooters (10-6-1), 6 p.m. Editor's note: This story has been edited to reflect the championship games being moved to Breese Stevens Field. A previous version had the matches at a different location.
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