Battle Born FC's Chams 'James' Khelifi slides toward his bench after scoring a goal Saturday.
Courtesy Terese Martinez
Battle Born FC’s second weekend on its home field saw the team begin to click in ways the club and coaching staff have been anxiously awaiting.
After a draw and a loss in the club’s first two home games last weekend, BBFC responded with two wins Saturday and Sunday by results of 5-2 and 5-0.
The 5-2 win over African Stars on Saturday catapulted the first-year franchise into playoff position and another dominating win Sunday leaves BBFC in third place with one game remaining.
However, three teams in the eight-team UPSL Mountain Premier Division still have two games remaining on their schedule, leaving the postseason picture a little hazy.
“It’s crazy right now,” said head coach Andrew Robles. “We need to win Saturday.”
Battle Born FC is likely into the postseason with a win in its regular season finale, but where it falls in the final standings for playoff seeding, will be determined by action around the division.
BBFC’s spring regular-season finale is Saturday against Sierra Nevada FC (Reno) at 5 p.m. on Carson High’s practice field.
Offensive outburst
The coaching staff made several lineup changes prior to the weekend series, which they feel led directly to the offensive outburst against two of the better teams in their division.
“We knew their potential and we were just trying to get them in the mix,” said Robles of the lineup changes. “It was a must win game. If we lost the game Saturday, it didn’t matter.”
The African Stars were in second place in the division coming into Saturday after knocking off first place Real Salt Lake U19.
An injury in the midfield and a forward swap to the other side of the field quickly opened up the offensive firepower.
Angel Hernandez reaped the rewards tallying a hat trick Saturday while Jacob Radow and Cesar Medina deposited the final goals.
Sunday in a 5-0 win over FC Spider, Gabriel Radow knocked in the opening goal before Medina punched home his second goal of the weekend.
Junior Mailly, Chams Khelifi and new addition to the squad, Jeremiah Backman, tacked on the insurance goals.
The top four teams in the division will advance to the playoffs and tiebreakers will be determined by goal differential with the top two squads getting home games against the three and four seeds.
Battle Born FC is currently second in goal differential at plus-14.
The top team to advance out of the Mountain Premier Division will qualify for the UPSL National Finals in July.
Standings Games played Record (W-D-L) GD Points
Real Salt Lake U19 8 6-0-2 17 18
Kongo FC 9 6-0-3 10 18
Battle Born FC 9 5-1-3 14 16
African Stars 10 5-0-5 10 15
FC Spider 9 5-0-4 -1 15
Boise Cutthroats 8 4-1-3 6 13
Sierra Nevada FC 8 2-0-6 -18 6
Utah Saints 9 1-0-8 -36 3
