Last July, Milwaukee Sport Club upset the Croatian Eagles in the Wisconsin Soccer Leagues Major Division playoffs and went on to win their first title since 1998.
On Saturday night, the teams will meet again for this year's championship.
The top-seeded Croatians and second-seeded Sport Club won semifinal matches Saturday at the Brookfield Indoor Soccer Complex Outdoor Fields, with the Eagles cruising past the United Serbians 4-1 and Sport Club topping Bavarian SC 2-1.
The final is set for 7 p.m. Saturday at Milwaukee School of Engineering's Viets Field, preceded by the WSL First Division final between North Shore United and the Azteca United Reserves at 5 p.m.
The Croatians (14-1-1) have beaten Sport Club all three times the teams have met this season in all competitions, winning 2-0 on Sept. 15 and 1-0 on April 27 in league play and 3-1 after extra time in the Wisconsin Amateur Cup final on May 17.
Philip Suprise (Milwaukee Pius) scored just 3 minutes into Saturday's match against United Serbians (7-6-2), Ilya Ksenidi (West Allis Hale/UW-Green Bay) added goals in the 25th and 44th minutes and Adam Lysak (Milton/Marquette) finished off the scoring in the 85th for the Eagles, who will play in the U.S. Adult Soccer Association Amateur Cup national semifinals on July 25 in Sandy, Utah.
Goals by Sam Krenzien (Wauwatosa West/UW-Green Bay) in the 25th and Steve Sperl (Wauwatosa West/UW-Milwaukee) in the 48th gave Sport Club (12-4-0) a two-goal lead in the other semifinal. Brett Dietz pulled one back with about 25 minutes remaining, but the third-seeded Bavarians (10-5-1) couldn't find an equalizer.
The Croatians – who are 22-3-3 in all competitions during the 2013-14 season – have won six state Major championships since 2002, including in 2010 and '12.
No. 2 seed North Shore United (17-3-1) rolled past the Bavarian Reserves 4-0 in its First Division semifinal for its eighth consecutive win. The first-year team has scored at least three goals all of those matches and is averaging 5 goals per game.
Fifth-seeded Azteca United Reserves (14-4-3) outlasted No. 6 seed Milwaukee Kickers Reserves 5-3 after extra time in the other semifinal. They are unbeaten in their past 12 matches (11-0-1) since a 4-0 loss to North Shore United in their first game of the spring season back on April 13.
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