The playoffs are coming to Ballard as Interbay Stadium will host the the first two rounds of the USL League Two playoffs this weekend.
The Western Conference quarterfinals and semifinal will be July 17th and 19th with Interbay Stadium hosting four of the eight Western Conference playoff teams. The first match at Interbay will be played at 2pm between Colorado Storm SC and Snohomish United, and it will be followed at 7pm as hosts Ballard FC take on Utah United. The same four playoff teams as in 2025 are back at Interbay Stadium just a year later, but with different matchups this time around.
To preview Friday’s matches, let’s start with the Friday night lights showdown between the hosts and Utah’s top side. Get tickets to Friday’s match!
Ballard FC
This weekend’s hosts are making their fifth straight USL 2 playoff appearance, having made the postseason every year, starting with their inaugural season in 2022. In all five seasons, the first two rounds of the playoffs have been hosted at Interbay Stadium where Ballard FC has an impressive 8-1 playoff record, with their only loss coming to Project 51O in 2024.
After making it all the way to the National Final in 2025, Ballard FC will be hoping for another deep playoff run in 2026. The 2026 regular season was the best in Ballard FC history with the team finishing 12-1-1 (W-L-D) and winning their fourth straight NW Division Title. When they won the National Championship in 2023, Ballard FC also lost and drew just once each but finished with a 10-1-1 regular season record as there was one fewer team in the division and therefore two fewer regular season matches.
Despite 2026 being Ballard FC’s best-ever record, it took until the final day of the season for the hosts to claim the division crown. On Sunday, Ballard FC and Snohomish United entered the last matchday equal on points. After Ballard FC 2-0 earlier in the season, Snohomish United had the head-to-head tiebreaker over Ballard and could win their first division title with a win or draw. However, Ballard FC had other ideas and secured their fourth consecutive NW Division Championship with a dominant 4-0 victory courtesy of four second half goals.
A big question mark for Ballard FC and Head Coach Mutanda Kwesele heading into the postseason will be how to handle the loss of the five University of Washington soccer players heading to Peru fo the rest of the summer. Ballard FC will be without Zach Ramsey, Stockton Short, Cameron Cruz, Emmett Layman, and Jordy Dierks for the playoffs. Fortunately for the hosts, they will hold onto goalkeeper Noah Newman as he is not yet enrolled as a student at Washington.
Despite the loss of these five key players, Ballard FC fans should feel confident in the team’s depth, especially with the trio of midseason attacking additions (Joe Highfield, Michael Divano, and Alex Villanueva) that were made earlier this month. Speaking of the attack, the Ballard FC offense is led by Anton Hjalmarsson with seven goals on the season, as the “Swedish Hammer” has scored in seven different matches. The Ballard attack is boosted by another European in Joschi Schelb, as the German has three goals and four assists in just three starts, winning player of the match in two of those three matches.
Hjalmarsson and Schelb will look to cause more trouble for opposing defenses in the postseason, start with Utah United.
Utah United
Utah United come back to Interbay Stadium for the second season in a row after finishing second in the Mountain Division with a 8-1-3 record. Utah United’s lone loss came in the season opener to the Mountain Division winners, the Colorado Storm. Since then, Utah United are on an eleven match unbeaten streak and will look to keep that going into the playoffs as they take on Ballard FC. To do so, they will need to beat a Ballard FC side that is a perfect 7-0-0 at Interbay Stadium this season.
Utah United was started in 2024 and finished third in the Mountain Division in 2024, just one spot shy of the playoffs. Then in 2025, they made their playoff debut after winning the Mountain Division. Now, they are back in the playoffs a year later and looking for their first postseason win. To get that elusive playoff victory, Utah United will need their attacking duo of Alejandro Silva and Elijah Tenger to come good on Friday night. Silva and Tenger both have five goals apiece, leading the club in scoring. Silva is a recent college graduate who spent time at both Utah Valley University and Oregon State University. Tenger played at Snow College before a short professional stint with the Park City Red Wolves.
Looking to create opportunities for Silva and Tenger is Jon Fritcher who leads Utah United in assists with six on the season. Fritcher just finished his redshirt freshman season at Denver University, but is a Pleasant Grove, Utah native. Five players on the Utah United roster were also on the Utah Tech 2025 roster this fall. Bladimir Cuevas, Landon Huebner, Colby Lee, Tyson Nguyen, and Taylor Rogers were all teammates with Ballard FC’s Stockton Short, Tanner Dutra, and Dunes Nielsen.
The real strength of the Utah United team is their defense as the backline has only given up 10 goals all year, less than a goal per match, and they will be confident they can shut down Ballard FC’s high-powered attack.
Now, let’s preview Friday’s opener as the 2pm match will kickoff this weekend’s action at Interbay Stadium.
Snohomish United
Snohomish United finished 11-2-1 on the season with 34 points and remain the only club to beat Ballard FC in 2026. In Snohomish, Ballard FC were defeated 2-0 courtesy of a goal apiece from the two Leon brothers. The Leon brothers have carried much of the Snohomish United attack this season. Aaron Leon has 12 goals and three assists while Edgar Leon has 10 goals and two assists. The brothers will play together at Championship Field next year for Seattle University. Edgar was the 2024 WAC Freshman of the Year while Aaron just finished his senior year of high school and won Washington Gatorade Player of the Year.
In addition to the Leon brothers, the Snohomish roster includes seven National Champions for the University of Washington’s 2025 Championship team including Connor Lofy, Clarens Dollin, Carter Gay, Kevin Hernandez, Brecken Bowers, Zack Meier, and Kenny Pierpoint. Just like Ballard FC, Snohomish United will be missing many of these Washington players for the postseason as they travel to Peru with the rest of their college teammates. Bowers will be the only one of the seven players to stay with Snohomish as he has transferred to San Diego State University ahead of the 2026 season, joining Ballard FC’s Trevor Wilson.
Snohomish United are strongly affiliated with Crossfire (XF) Premier, one of Washington’s best youth clubs, and therefore much of their roster is made up of XF alums or current XF players. Snohomish United joined USL 2 in 2025 and have made the playoffs in both years of their existence, finishing second in the NW Division two years in a row. Last year, Snohomish United upset Utah United, the 2025 Mountain Division Champions, in the first round of the playoffs before being knocked out by Ballard FC in round two. Snohomish will be looking to pull off another upset in 2026 as they take on current Mountain Division Champions, Colorado Storm SC, on Friday afternoon.
After a humbling 4-0 defeat to ballard FC in their season finale, Snohomish will need to bounce back to keep their season alive.
Finally, let’s meet Snohomish United’s opponents and the final team left to preview.
Colorado Storm SC
Colorado Storm SC are the 2026 Mountain Division Champions and the only undefeated USL 2 club coming to play at Interbay Stadium this weekend as they finished the regular season with a 11-0-1 record. The Storm’s lone draw came at the hands of Utah United, the division’s other playoff representative.
In addition to their impressive undefeated record, the Storm were tied for the best defense in the league in 2026 as they and Steel City FC only conceded three goals all season. It will be a strength against strength battle on Friday as Snohomish United’s Leon brothers go up against the Colorado Storm defense. The defense is anchored by goalkeeper Sepehr Habibi who played in every minute of every match this season for the Storm. Habibi plays his college soccer for Purdue Fort Wayne where he was Second Team All-Horizon League and 2x Horizon League Defensive Player of the Week in 2025.
In attack, Colorado Storm SC are driven in large part by Oluwatobi Osifodunrin who leads the team in both goals (5) and assists (9). Snohomish United goalkeeper Jackson Ozburn will have a tough task keeping Osifodunrin from affecting the scoresheet. Colorado Storm will be looking for a better trip to Interbay Stadium than last year where they were beaten 6-0 in the first round by Ballard FC, and if their 2026 regular season is anything to go by then they should be ready to put on a much better performance this time around.
After Friday’s matches, the winners will face off in the Western Conference Semifinal at 6:30pm on Sunday July 19th. This match will also be hosted at Interbay Stadium. Purchase tickets today for all three matches this weekend! Whoever wins on Sunday will then move on to the Western Conference Finals on July 24th. Each Conference champion will then move on to the National Semifinals on July 26th. After the National Semis, the winners will square off for the National Championship on Saturday, August 1st. All USL League Two playoff matches can be followed live on SportsEngine Play and by monitoring the league website as well as their social media.
Written by Max Dresbach
