Wisconsin Soccer Central

Just as he's done many times for the Marquette men's soccer team, Bryan Ciesiulka came up big in a big match.

The midfielder opened the scoring in the fourth minute and snapped a tie in the 53rd – just a minute after the Chicago Inferno had pulled level – as the Fire posted a 4-1 victory Sunday night at Toyota Park in Bridgeview, Ill., to claim the third and final spot in the Central Conference Great Lakes Division playoffs.

The Fire (6-8-0) and K-W United (5-6-3) tied for third in the division with 18 points, one ahead of the Toronto Lynx (5-7-2) and three more than the Inferno (4-7-3), but Chicago claimed the final playoff berth on the second tiebreaker – most victories in league play. The teams were even on the first tiebreaker, head to head, after splitting their two regular-season meetings.

Chicago will play the second-place Michigan Bucks (8-3-3) on Tuesday in Pontiac, Mich., with the winner advancing to this weekend's conference tournament in Thunder Bay, Ontario, along with Great Lakes champion – and defending PDL champion – Forest City London (10-2-2), with Thunder Bay Chill (12-1-1) and Real Colorado Foxes (9-3-2) from the Heartland Division.

Ciesiulka, who had scored one goal on the season before Sunday, was one of 10 players with Wisconsin ties in the starting lineups – five for each side – and both teams brought another state player off the bench.

• K-W United, with University of Wisconsin forward Tomislav Zadro and defender AJ Cochran in the lineup, beat Toronto 3-1 in its season finale. The Canadian side would have qualified for the playoffs if the Inferno had beaten the Fire.
• Thunder Bay, which finished the regular season with a PDL-best 37 points, will play the Bucks or Fire in the conference semifinals Saturday. Forest City London and Real Colorado will meet in the other semifinal, with the Central final scheduled for Sunday. Marquette defenders Paul Dillon (2 goals, 5 assists) and Axel Sjoberg (4 goals) have played all 14 matches for the Chill.

USL W-LEAGUE

UW goalkeeper Genevieve Richard made seven saves to preserve a 1-1 draw and the host and top-seeded Laval Comets ousted reigning W-League champion Ottawa Fury 5-4 on penalty kicks in the Central Conference final Saturday night.

Marquette defender Vanessa Legault-Cordisco played all 120 minutes for the Comets (8-1-4), who advance to next weekend's W-League Championships in Bradenton, Fla. UW's Kinley McNicoll also played the the full 120 minutes for Ottawa (8-3-3).

Laval is seeded first for the championships and will face the Carolina Elite Cobras (6-4-1) in the semifinals at 4 p.m. Friday. The second-seeded Pali Blues (9-2-2) play the No. 3 seed Washington Spirit Reserves (8-3-2) in the first semifinal at 1 p.m.; the consolation match is scheduled for 11 a.m. Sunday followed by the final at 2 p.m.

USL SUPER-20

UW-Green Bay's Billy Donovan and St. Louis Scott Gallagher lost to Ohio's Pacesetter SC 2-0 in the semifinals of the Super-20 League Championship on Saturday afternoon in Bradenton, Fla. James Routledge, who redshirted at Marquette last fall but has since transferred to Missouri State, also played for Scott Gallagher (8-3-1).

NATIONAL PREMIER SOCCER LEAGUE

All four regional finals were played over the weekend, setting the schedule for next Saturday's national semifinals. Teams were seeded for the semifinals based on their points-per-game average during regular-season matches.

The Erie Admirals (9-3-3) claimed the Midwest title, slipping past the Central Conference champion Quad City Eagles 1-0 on Afrim Latifi's 33rd-minute goal Saturday in Riverdale, Iowa. The fourth-seeded Admirals will play at No. 1 seed RVA FC (7-0-2) on Saturday, after the first-year team from Richmond, Va., got past perennial power Chattanooga FC 1-0 in the South Region final Sunday.

The second-seeded Sonoma County Sol (11-0-3) will play host to the other semifinal Saturday, with reigning NPSL champion FC Lehigh Valley United Sonic (11-3-0) making the trip from Pennsylvania to California. The Sol knocked off the Sacramento Gold 3-1 after extra time in the West Region final Saturday, while third-seeded Sonic topped Greater Binghamton FC 1-0 in the Northeast Region final Sunday.