Wisconsin Soccer Central

The Croatian Eagles saw Friday what many National Premier Soccer League teams – including the Madison 56ers – have learned the past few years:

Charlie Sales is a tremendous goalkeeper.

Sales made three impressive saves in the final 20 minutes as FC Lehigh Valley United Sonic held on to beat the Croatians 1-0 in a semifinal of the inaugural U.S. Adult Soccer Association National Amateur Championship in Greensboro, N.C.

"Their goalkeeper came up huge," Eagles manager Alex Toth said of Sales' performance.

Tom Mustac scored the lone goal in the 26th minute as reigning NPSL champion LVU Sonic advanced to Sunday's final against the host Carolina Dynamo. The USL Premier Development League side pulled away late to beat Boston's Battery Park Gunners 3-1 in the second semifinal.

Sunday morning's third-place match pits two USASA national champions from last year: The Croatians, who won the the Open Cup, and Amateur Cup winner Battery Park. Kickoff is set for 8 a.m. Central.

"I'm disappointed we lost, but we'll regroup and try to win third place," Toth said. "We don't want to be the fourth-place team."

Toth acknowledged that his team was second-best in the opening 45 minutes against LVU Sonic, which could have taken the lead even earlier but sent a penalty kick off the post.

Toth disagreed with the 18th-minute penalty whistled against Aaron Cranfill (New Berlin West/UW-Green Bay), saying that the center back was simply shielding the ball from the attacking player.

It was a different story after the break, though.

"A little sluggish in the first half," Toth said of his team. "Very dominant in the second half."

Yet that dominance didn't lead to any goals for the Franklin club, which is unbeaten in Wisconsin Soccer Leagues Major Division play and won the Wisconsin Amateur Cup last Saturday.

Sales gets a lot of credit for that.

In the 70th, the 2012 NPSL Goalkeeper of the Year made a double-save on substitute Ramon "Choko" Alvarado (Franklin), who got in behind the LVU Sonic backline and broke in alone on goal only to be thwarted on his initial shot and a follow-up attempt.

Ten minutes later, Croatians center back Aaron Schroeder chested down a corner kick – Toth thought a foul and penalty could have been called on the sequence – and the ball found its way to another sub, Gustavo Mena, alone on the doorstep.

"He was inside the 6-yard box," Toth said of Mena. "Just unbeliveable. The keeper got down and made the save so fast."

Mena eventually did get the ball past Sales, in the 89th after running on to a through ball from veteran midfielder Jason Willan (Franklin), but the assistant referee flagged Mena offside.

"What are you going to do?" Toth said. "I tip my hat to (LVU Sonic), they were well organized and they didn't get here by accident, they're a quality team. But I thought in the second half, we should have beaten them."

Mustac's goal was the first in three matches this season for LVU Sonic, which blanked the 56ers 2-0 in the NPSL semifinals last summer – Sales finished the season with 12 shutouts in 17 matches.

Battery Park led Carolina through 75 minutes in the second semifinal, but an 85th-minute penalty kick and red card doomed the Boston side.

CROATIAN EAGLES: Bryce Boyd; Tony Patterson, Aaron Cranfill (Cheikh Drame 75), Aaron Schroeder, Mike Narciso; Joe Anderson (Ross Van Osdol 65), Scott Raymonds; Mohammed Sethi (Ilya Ksenidi 78), Jason Willan, Andrew Wiedabach (Gustavo Mena 52); Aaron Lauber (Ramon "Choko" Alvarado 65).

• Des Moines Menace defender Taylor Diem (Middleton) was named to the USL Premier Development League Team of the Week. Diem scored on a header off a corner kick in the 41st minute and helped anchor a backline that posted a clean sheet in a 1-0 victory over visiting WSA Winnipeg last Saturday.
• Diem also played all 90 minutes Tuesday as the Menace stunned North American Soccer League side Minnesota United FC 1-0 in the second round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup in St. Paul, Minn., earning a third-round matchup at Major League Soccer's Sporting Kansas City this Tuesday. Des Moines beat the 56ers 1-0 in the first round May 15.
• The Women's Premier Soccer League Midwest Division was reduced to eight teams when St. Louis City SC – previously known as the Soccer Saint Louis Defenders – withdrew from the league just six days before the season starts Saturday. The change isn't expected to have an impact on the Madison 56ers, the lone Wisconsin team in the division, as they weren't scheduled to play St. Louis.