Fire & Ice SC 4, Des Moines Menace 0

Fire & Ice SC, the reigning WPSL champions, opened up its season against the Des Moines Menace on June 2.

Fire & Ice SC made sure to grab the league’s attention with a 4-0 victory at Grimes Sports Complex in Iowa. Fire & Ice SC compiled a halftime score of 3-0.

Kirsten Crabtree, a defender, and forward Tara Sullivan scored the first half goals. Sullivan recorded two goals, with Crabtree recording the assist on the first goal. Midfielder Sarah Gorham tallied the second goal’s assist.

With five minutes left in the match, midfielder Brianna Hatfield scored Fire & Ice SC’s game-winning goal off fellow midfielder Bethany Coons assist.

After the match, Menace assistant coach Hugo Macedo said he felt his side respected the defending league champions too much at the beginning.

“They’re the national champs, and I think it’s natural at any level to feel little bit intimidated when you go up against the top team,” Macedo said to the Menace’s official website. “In the second half, we started playing well. Unfortunately, it was too late. We didn’t give up. We showed the mentality of a winning team.”

The two sides won’t have to wait long to face each other again. The two sides will face each other on Saturday, this time at Althoff Catholic High School in Illinois. The match will start at 7 p.m. CDT.

Kansas City Athletics 4, KC Courage 1

Continuing their red-hot start to the season, the Kansas City Athletics added another win to its season total.

After defeating the St. Louis Lions 3-0 at home on June 2, the Athletics hit the road to face the KC Courage.

The new derby rivalry in the Central Region’s Heartland Conference finished with a 4-1 final score at Northeast High School. The Athletics took the early lead in the 3rd minute off forward Alyssa Seitzer’s goal.

The Courage responded, for Brooklynn Meinke scored the equalizer off Chloe Flynn’s assist. However, the match did not stay tied for long. Two minutes after Meinke scored the equalizer, the Athletics took back the lead off Cece Kizer’s unassisted goal.

Kansas City got the final say with two goals in the second half. Within four minutes of each other, forwards Lexi Howard and Hannah Miller scored separate goals.

The two sides will meet up again on June 10 at Shawnee Mission South High School.

Lonestar SC 4, Texas Titans 0

Lonestar SC is also enjoying a successful start to their WPSL season.

The Austin, Texas club thrived in two back-to-back home matches at Round Rock Multipurpose Complex. First, Lonestar SC defeated AHFC Royals, 3-1.

The following day, Lonestar SC completed a weekend sweep, defeating the Texas Titans, 4-0. Jackie Pope recorded a hat trick against the Titans.

Before the Titans dropped their second match against Lonestar SC, the club fell in their home opener, 3-1, against AHFC Royals at home.

Coached by Colleen Pitts, Lonestar SC will host its next two matches at home before going on the road for their final four matches. The two sides will meet again on June 17 at British International School in Katy, Texas.

Other Matches

Little Rock Rangers 2 – 1 Lady Demize
Texas Spurs FC 2 – 4 FC Wichita
AHFC Royals 1 – 3 Lonestar SC
Fire & Ice SC 4 – 0 Des Moines Menace
St. Louis Lions 0 – 3 Kansas City Athletics
San Antonio Blossoms 0 – 2 TTI: Bluebonnets
Texas Titans 0 – 4 Lonestar SC
Minnesota TwinStars 0 – 1 Chicago City SC
Dakota Fusion FC 0 – 9 Chicago City SC
FC Wichita 2 – 0 Oklahoma City FC
Kansas City Athletics 4 – 1 KC Courage
Little Rock Rangers 1 – 5 Texas Spurs FC