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.
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.
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).
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.
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