This weekend, Ballard FC is leaving the state of Washington for only the second time all year as they compete for a Western Conference Championship and ultimately a place in the National Final.
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The Western and Central Conference Championships will be played on Friday, July 24th at Atwood Stadium with the winners then playing in a National Semifinal on Sunday, July 26th at 4pm PT/7pm ET. The first match Friday is the Western Conference Final as Ballard FC and Ventura County Fusion kickoff at 12pm PT/3pm ET and that will be followed by the Central Conference Final where the Flint City Bucks are hosting Peoria City with kickoff slated for 4pm PT/7pm ET.
To preview Friday’s matches, let’s start with the opener, the Western Conference Final. Stream the match live!
For the fourth time in just five seasons, Ballard FC is facing off with Ventura County Fusion for the Western Conference Championship. It is the second time that the two clubs will meet in Flint, Michigan after doing so in 2023.
The first meeting came in 2022, Ballard FC’s inaugural season where Ventura County Fusion won 1-0 in Des Moines, Iowa courtesy of a penalty kick goal from current FC Dallas forward Logan Farrington. The Fusion would go on to win the National Championship in 2022.
Then the following year the two teams met again, this time in Flint, Michigan. After being down 2-0 late in the match, current Philadelphia Union forward Stas Korzeniowski took control of the match and scored two late goals to make it 2-2 and force extra time. In extra time Korzeniowski would get his hat-trick and his Penn teammate Charlie Gaffney would add a fourth goal to help Ballard FC win 4-3 en route to a National Championship that season.
After both teams missed the Conference final in 2024, they met again last season at Interbay Stadium. The match ended in a 2-1 victory for the home side thanks to goals from Joe Dale and Charlie Kosakoff. After losing the last two meetings, the Fusion will be looking for revenge in 2026.
Ballard FC
Ballard FC advanced to the Conference Final after claiming their fourth straight NW Division Championship and then winning their first two playoff matches at Interbay Stadium. Despite that seeming “routine” for the reigning Western Conference Champs, Ballard FC did not make easy work of any of it.
Even with the club’s best ever regular season record, 12-1-1, it took until the final day of the regular season for Ballard FC to win the division title and they needed nothing short of a win against Snohomish United to do it. After a scoreless first half, Ballard FC turned it on in the second 45′ and managed to score four goals to win 4-0 and bag a fourth NW Division Title.
Then Ballard FC came up against the Mountain Division in the first two rounds of playoffs, playing Utah United and then Colorado Storm.
In the first round against Utah, Ballard came out on top of one of the craziest endings in league history. After 120 minutes of scoreless soccer, two minutes were added on by center referee Julian Tafolla-Cisneros. Joschi Schelb scored what the whole crowd assumed to be the winner with a 121st minute rocket from outside the box to give Ballard FC the lead. But five minutes later, in the 126th minute, Tafolla-Cisneros was yet to blow the final whistle and the match was still going on. Utah United took full advantage, as Nico Golesis scored a scissor kick equalizer to force a penalty kick shootout.
In the shootout, Ballard FC’s 18 year-old goalkeeper Noah Newman made two huge saves and then Ray Mendez, the 2024 GNAC Player of the Year for Seattle Pacific University, furthered his Interbay Stadium legacy as he dispatched the winning penalty kick to send Ballard FC through to the second round.
In between the first and second round of playoffs, Ballard FC’s sister club, Salmon Bay FC, won a National Championship in another penalty shootout on Saturday night at Interbay Stadium.
After two straight nights of penalty kicks at Interbay Stadium, fans were likely expecting another exciting finish on Sunday night after the World Cup Final and they got just that as Ballard FC defeated Colorado Storm SC 4-3. Although this match did not go to extra time, it was mere seconds away from doing so as Colorado Storm equalized to make it 3-3 in the in the 92nd minute. But then less than a minute later, Etienne Veillard stormed down the right flank and sent in a cross that deflected intp the back of the net to give Ballard FC the 4-3 victory.
After being battle-tested all season, including the first two playoff matches, Ballard FC look to defend their Western Conference Title. Now, let’s meet their opponents.
Ventura County Fusion
The Ventura County Fusion are the only undefeated team left on this side of the bracket, going 8-0-4 (W-L-T) in the regular season en route to a Southwest Division Championship, and then defeating both Project 51O and San Francisco City SC in the playoffs to get to this point.
The Fusion attack is led by Noe Morale-Moya who leads the team in scoring with six goals while Anthony Boyadjian has been the creative force with a team-high five assists. In goal, Miguel Angel-Hernandez has helped the Fusion keep their goals against average below one per match. Angel-Hernandez is the starting goalkeeper at the University of Portland where he is teammates with Ballard FC’s Anton Hjalmarsson, Angel Martinez, and Joe Highfield. Angel-Hernandez was Second Team All-WCC in 2024 and then led the conference in shutouts, save percentage, and goalkeeper minutes played in 2025. Miguel’s younger brother, Javier, is also on the Fusion and has spent time in MLS Next Pro with LAFC2, and now will play for Portland alongside Miguel after spending a year at the University of North Carolina. Javier does not just share a name with Mexican legend Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez, but is also quite a goalscorer himself with four goals in USL 2 play this season.
The Fusion will be coming into Friday’s final not only with their eyes set on revenge but also full of momentum after defeating SF City SC 6-1 in the Conference Semifinal. A brace from Andres Torres and individual goals from Thanhofer, Merritt, Lezzar, and Lewis helped the Fusion hand SF City their first loss of 2026.
Heading into Friday, the Fusion will look to keep their offense humming and their defense strong as they look to win their first conference title since they won it all back in 2022.
Now let’s preview the Central Conference teams.
Flint City Bucks
The winningest club in USL League Two history is hosting this weekend of playoffs at Atwood Stadium. The Flint City Bucks have the most national titles across the entire league with four. Flint’s most recent title came in 2019, the first year the league changed its name to USL League Two.
The Bucks went 10-1-1 in the regular season to win the Great Lakes Division. They had a poor four day stretch in which they suffered their lone loss to in-state rivals AFC Ann Arbor and then quickly followed that up with their lone draw to another club in Michigan, Oakland County FC. Other than that, the Bucks have been perfect.
In the playoffs, Flint beat FC Buffalo 2-0 in the opening round before narrowly defeating Steel City FC 2-1 in round two. One of the big stories of these playoffs is that 40 year-old MLS veteran Steve Clark has been starting in goal for the Bucks after retiring from professional soccer in 2024. The Mason, Michigan native made over 275 MLS appearances in his career and played for the Columbus Crew, DC United, Portland Timbers, and Houston Dynamo. Clark made his Flint City debut against FC Buffalo in the first round.
On the attacking side of the ball, the Bucks are led by Oliver Moller-Jensen who has 10 goals and six assists, both are team highs. Moller-Jensen is transferring to Indiana University after a great career at Florida Atlantic University where he won the AAC Regular Season and Tournament Championships in 2025 and was named Second Team All-Conference last fall.
After losing to Ballard FC in the National Semifinal in both 2023 and 2025, the Bucks will be aiming to get some revenge and advance through this weekend and into the National Final. Now let’s meet their opponents.
Peoria City
The 2024 National Finalists are looking to make another trip to the National Final in 2026, but they will need to advance past this weekend in Flint to do so.
Just like the Bucks, Peoria City went 10-1-1 in the regular season to win the Great Plains Division. Surprisingly, the only two teams that Peoria have dropped points to are both in the bottom half of the division, Springfield FC and FC Ambush. In the playoffs Peoria City played a close one against Sueño FC in the first round, winning 3-2 with an 85th minute winner from Preston Kipnusu. Then things were much more comfortable in the second round as Peoria defeated the formerly perfect Minneapolis City SC by a score of 4-0.
Alongside Kipnusu, the Peoria attack stars Prosper Adagani who leads the team with nine goals. Thomas Coughlin is the team leader in assists with five. Kipnusu was the Missouri valley Conference Freshman of the Year in 2024 and then First Team All-MVC in 2025 for the Drake Bulldogs. His strike partner Adagani was the 2025 Big South Freshman of the Year at High Point University. While Coughlin will be coming to Seattle University this fall after a great career at University of Wisconsin Green bay where he was Second Team All-Horizon League in both 2023 and 2024. In goal, Peoria City start Samy Slimi who played in all 24 matches for Tulsa University last fall and is a Paris FC Academy product.
This weekend is full of USL League Two Playoff soccer as the elite eight begins this Friday. Check out the full bracket below.
Fans can watch Friday’s match at goballardfc.com/stream. We also encourage fans to attend the Watch Party at the Stoup Brewing Ballard Taproom.
Written by Max Dresbach
