Chihuahua Savage win MASL 2 Championship in double OT thriller

DES MOINES, Iowa -- For the Chihuahua Savage, you might say its two down and one to go.

The Savage II went to double overtime -- and the game was less than a minute from going into triple overtime -- before Martin Lara scored on a rebound in front of the Iowa goal to give the Savage their second MASL 2 championship, 8-7, over the Iowa Demon Hawks. 

Chihuahua's Major Arena Soccer League Women team won that league championship two weeks ago in the same building, and the parent club is in the Major Arena Soccer League championship series against the San Diego Sockers starting next weekend. 

Sunday's  title game was a heavyweight slugfest right from the start, with both sides landing haymakers and grabbing leads at various points throughout. The Savage won the league championship two years ago, while Iowa was the defending league champions. Chihuahua also won a "declared" championship in 2020 with the best regular season record in the league. There was no postseason that year because of the COVID pandemic. 

Chihuahua built a 6-3 lead five minutes into the second quarter, but sparked by MASL veteran goalkeeper Rainer Hauss, the Demon Hawks allowed just one goal for more than a full 60 minutes of play before Lara got the golden goal.

Iowa had the best chances late, including a 45-footer from Luan Silva that hit the underside of the crossbar but stayed out with just over four minutes left in the fourth, and a breakaway try by Matheus Paura that was turned away on a kick save by Chihuahua goalkeeper David Escarcega with 2:40 to play.

Both teams had great chances six minutes into the first overtime. Chihuahua had two looks from in close on a restart play, and seconds after that, Bruno Henrique caught the underside of the crossbar again for Iowa, with for the second time in as many quarter, the ball staying out of the goal. 

Defenses dominated in the second OT -- with the two teams physically spent having played the equivalent of 2 1/2 games in less than a 24 hour span -- including two brilliant defensive slide tackles in the midfield that allowed the Savage to create their winning counter attack. 

It was the seventh time in the eight-year history of MASL 2 that a post-season game went into overtime, and first time a championship was decided in extra time. It was also the first double overtime game in league playoff history.  The San Diego Sockers, in winning their 2021-22 title, actually played overtime in both the quarterfinals and semi-finals, but did not need overtime to claim that championship.

League all star Alvaro Luevano led the way with three goals and two assists for the champs. Romon Ramirez added two goals and two assists while Lara also picked up an assist for a two-point night. Jorge Octavio Gonzalez had a goal and an assist as well.

Iowa had early leads of 1-0 and 2-1 on two goals less than two minutes apart early in the first from Jeanderson Pereira but never regained the lead the rest of the way despite the game being tied on four different occasions. Caio Ferreira had two goals and one assist, and Pereira also picked up an assist as each had three-point games. Gabrielle Martinez Camarillo picked up a goal and one assist for Iowa as well. 

In the Consolation Final on Sunday, United Elite topped the Wichita Wings, 8-4. 

The Wings trailed by three early in the third quarter, but cut it to a one goal game on scores by David Lucio and Ethan Doud, but Utica scored three goals in the game's final seven minutes  -- two by Meny Silva -- to pull away. 

Kyle Gehnrich had a hat trick for Krajisnik, while Silva also added an assist for a three-point afternoon.  Jose Tavares had a goal and two assists for a three-point game as well for United Elite. For Wichita, Doud had a goal and an assist along with single goals from Carlos Vidrio and Abdullah Ahmed.