Inferno close home season with rout of first-place Wichita; playoff seeds still up for grabs
TAMPA, Fla. -- The Colorado Inferno won't make the Major Arena Soccer League 2 playoffs -- at least this season -- but they made their home schedule finished in style for the 2021 campaign with an eye-raising 16-6 rout of the Wichita Wings Sunday in Colorado Springs.
The two teams ended up splitting their weekend double header, which leaves seedings for the M2 Championship Weekend still up for grabs going into the final week of the regular season.
Wichita will gain the No. 1 seed with a win on July 9 at Amarillo. Should the Wings fall in that one, the top spot would belong to the Cleveland Crunch. Amarillo will need to win one of their two remaining home games to secure the third spot ahead of the Chicago Mustangs. The Bombers will host Colorado on July 11. Those are the final two games of the regular season. Playoff seedings are based on winning percentage for the 2021 regular season.
Sunday, the Inferno thrilled a home crowd by racing to an 8-3 halftime lead, and then putting the game out of reach with five more goals in the third period. Saturday, the Wings took an 11-8 decision, pulling away in the second half after Colorado had pulled to within 7-6 in the third quarter.
Devin Guidichessi was the offensive star Sunday, scoring three goals and adding four assists. Francisco Rivas added to his league leading scoring total with a goal and four assists, while Marcus Jordan and Ismael Morales eadc had a hat trick. Franck Tayou led the Wings attack with two goals and an assist.
Eduardo "Benji" Monreal led the Wichita win Saturday with three goals and an assist. James Togbah added a hat trick and Roger Downing had two goals and an assist. For Colorado, Rivas had four goals, and will finish the season as the league's top point getter with 25 goals and 12 assists in the Inferno's 15 game season.
The league will be dark for the July 4th holiday weekend before finishing up with two games in Amarillo July 9 and 11 before the playoff weekend July 17 and 18 at Hatrman Arena in Wichita.