Springfield Demize Crowned PASL National Champions The Demize started preparing for the PASL Nationals after winning the Midwest conference in style going undefeated with a 7-0-1 record. During the regular season the Demize scored 62 goals and only conceded 34. Unfortunately the orginal date of March 28-29th in Houston, Texas was postponed to the summer due to the pandemic. Seven months later, Cinccinati, Ohio became the final stop of the PASL National Championship.
The start of the championship run for the Demize started Friday with a 600 mile road trip. The Cincinnati Swerve and Springfield Demize entered the tournament as top seeds in Group A and Group B, respectively, and earned byes to the semifinals by finishing at the top of their groups Saturday.
Springfield tied the Indiana Lions 2-2 and routed the Queen City Sonics 6-0, enabling the Demize and Swerve to sit back and watch the Waza Flo get eliminated 6-0 against Indiana and Queen City exit after falling 4-0 to Bellingham.
Director of Soccer Operatoins, Chris Hanlon, stated "In our first match against Indiana we looked a bit off and I think the squad needed to get their travel legs sorted out. All credit to the Lions for pushing us to the limit and putting us in a must win situation for the second round game against the Queen City Sonics. "
Demize Head Coach, Guillherme Ferreira stated "We had the smallest roster of all the teams competing so we knew that winning our group and earning the bye straight to the semi-finals would be a key for our teams chances to make the national championship game."
Former Demize forward Rian Marques, who recently signed a three year contract with the Kansas City Comets MASL 1, lead the Demize attack. Rian was the Midwest Conference golden boot winner during the regular season. The runners up for the conference golden boot Mareclo Hernadez (2 goals) and Erik Pereira (2 goals) each left their mark, scoring key goals for the Demize. Jaxn Rogers and Vinicius Albino each tallied two goals with Jordon Housman and Dominque Salcedo talling one goal a piece. Gustavo Nascimento lead the team with three assists. The potent Demize attack compiled 13 goals in four matches an average 3.25 goals per game.
In the semifinal, the Western Indoor Soccer League's champion Bellingham United and the Springfield Demize played to a 0-0 stalemate in the first half, but Marcelo Hernandez got Springfield on the board early in the second half. Trailing 2-0 in the final minutes, Bellingham created their best offensive chances only to be stymied by Demize goalkeeper Joel Barroso, playing the second halves of games in a tandem with Nico Helin. Barroso came up with a series of saves to preserve the shutout and the win. The goalkeeping duo of Helin and Barroso lead the tourment in least goals allowed during the competition conceding only 4 goals. Nico and Joel led the Demize defense with a goals against average of one goal per game.
Now it was up to the Demize to dethrone the defending national champions, the Cinncinati Swerve. After a scoreless first quarter, the Swerve struck first on a Steven Munoz goal, but the Demize answered two minutes later on an Erik Pereira's tally. The 1-1 score held up until Munoz found the net again before Marcelo Hernadez tied it once more. Rian Marques gave Springfield their first lead of the game late in the third quarter and the 3-2 score held up, giving Springfield their first PASL national title.
With a combined conference and national championships record of 10-0-2 the Demize captured the clubs first national title on 10-11-2020. The Demize have qualified for nationals 4 times during their history. They have competed in 3 nationals and finished 3rd reaching the semi finals in 2018. This is the Demize organizations first star.
Congratualtions to all of our staff and players that have made this achievement possible.
The start of the championship run for the Demize started Friday with a 600 mile road trip. The Cincinnati Swerve and Springfield Demize entered the tournament as top seeds in Group A and Group B, respectively, and earned byes to the semifinals by finishing at the top of their groups Saturday.
Springfield tied the Indiana Lions 2-2 and routed the Queen City Sonics 6-0, enabling the Demize and Swerve to sit back and watch the Waza Flo get eliminated 6-0 against Indiana and Queen City exit after falling 4-0 to Bellingham.
Director of Soccer Operatoins, Chris Hanlon, stated "In our first match against Indiana we looked a bit off and I think the squad needed to get their travel legs sorted out. All credit to the Lions for pushing us to the limit and putting us in a must win situation for the second round game against the Queen City Sonics. "
Demize Head Coach, Guillherme Ferreira stated "We had the smallest roster of all the teams competing so we knew that winning our group and earning the bye straight to the semi-finals would be a key for our teams chances to make the national championship game."
Former Demize forward Rian Marques, who recently signed a three year contract with the Kansas City Comets MASL 1, lead the Demize attack. Rian was the Midwest Conference golden boot winner during the regular season. The runners up for the conference golden boot Mareclo Hernadez (2 goals) and Erik Pereira (2 goals) each left their mark, scoring key goals for the Demize. Jaxn Rogers and Vinicius Albino each tallied two goals with Jordon Housman and Dominque Salcedo talling one goal a piece. Gustavo Nascimento lead the team with three assists. The potent Demize attack compiled 13 goals in four matches an average 3.25 goals per game.
In the semifinal, the Western Indoor Soccer League's champion Bellingham United and the Springfield Demize played to a 0-0 stalemate in the first half, but Marcelo Hernandez got Springfield on the board early in the second half. Trailing 2-0 in the final minutes, Bellingham created their best offensive chances only to be stymied by Demize goalkeeper Joel Barroso, playing the second halves of games in a tandem with Nico Helin. Barroso came up with a series of saves to preserve the shutout and the win. The goalkeeping duo of Helin and Barroso lead the tourment in least goals allowed during the competition conceding only 4 goals. Nico and Joel led the Demize defense with a goals against average of one goal per game.
Now it was up to the Demize to dethrone the defending national champions, the Cinncinati Swerve. After a scoreless first quarter, the Swerve struck first on a Steven Munoz goal, but the Demize answered two minutes later on an Erik Pereira's tally. The 1-1 score held up until Munoz found the net again before Marcelo Hernadez tied it once more. Rian Marques gave Springfield their first lead of the game late in the third quarter and the 3-2 score held up, giving Springfield their first PASL national title.
With a combined conference and national championships record of 10-0-2 the Demize captured the clubs first national title on 10-11-2020. The Demize have qualified for nationals 4 times during their history. They have competed in 3 nationals and finished 3rd reaching the semi finals in 2018. This is the Demize organizations first star.
Congratualtions to all of our staff and players that have made this achievement possible.