Wisconsin Soccer Central

After falling to Paradigm in each of the past two Madison Soccer Association Division 1 finals, the Madison Fire exacted a bit of revenge on their rivals Sunday.

Trevor Banks (Madison Memorial) scored the game-winner in overtime as the top-seeded Fire outlasted fourth-seeded Paradigm 2-1 in a semifinal at Warner Park, advancing to the finals for the eighth time in the past nine seasons.

Alfredo Ramirez had the opener for the Fire (8-1-4), who will take on second-seeded Deportivo (8-3-2) in Friday's championship game at 8 p.m. at Warner Park Field 1. Ryan Compty (Mukwonago/UW-Oshkosh) scored the equalizer for Paradigm (5-5-3).

Deportivo knocked off third-seeded Madison United Premier 5-2 in the other semifinal to earn another shot at the Fire in a final – the Fire claimed championships by beating Deportivo 2-1 in 2008 and 4-0 in 2009. However, Deportivo dealt the Fire their lone loss this season, a 3-1 decision back on Aug. 17.

Sunday's Division 2 semifinals had the same scorelines as the Dvision 1 matches.

Goals by Nathan Moeller and Nathan Oster (Kenosha Tremper) lifted the reigning champion Wisconsin Wizards over No. 3 seed Epic FC 2-1. The second-seeded Wizards (13-6-2) are riding a nine-game unbeaten streak (8-0-1) into their matchup against No. 4 seed Sporting 1836 (12-6-4) in the final at 6 p.m. Friday. 

Dave Buschke scored the lone goal for Epic FC (12-7-2).

Sporting 1836, named after the year in which the concept of the city of Madison was approved, thumped top-seeded FC Metro 5-2 in the other semifinal.

Chad Amini had a brace in the victory, while Jamie Laabs (Madison East), Casey Narish(La Crosse Central) and Anders Gevalt also scored for Sporting 1836, which tied the Wizards 0-0 on Sept. 23. Ian Neill and Kevin Maloney (Sun Prairie) found the net for FC Metro (11-3-7).

The semifinals and finals in both divisions were pushed back one week because of inclement weather on Oct. 14.