SANTA CLARITA BLUE HEAT 2, REAL SALT LAKE WOMEN 1

SANTA CLARITA, CA - The Santa Clarita Blue Heat are back to winning ways after a 2-1 victory over the Real Salt Lake Women on Saturday night at The Master’s College. The Blue Heat came back from a deficit and got the game-winning goal from Kasandra Massey in the 56th minute. The win pushes Santa Clarita (2-1-2) a step closer to the top of the competitive United Women’s Soccer (UWS) West Conference. They are now in third place while RSL (3-2-1) holds on to the top spot.

Action started quickly as the Real Women pressured for a early goal. In the 12th minute, RSL defender Katie Rigby connected on a ball on the far side of the box on a misdirected header from Madie Lyons off a corner kick. Rigby’s lob went over Blue Heat goalkeeper Jojo McCaskill (four saves) and into back of the net. Santa Clarita was able to level the game eight minutes later.

After a nice flick took her behind RSL’s defense, Mele French raced inside the penalty area and served a low driven ball across the box. It fell to Melissa Fernandez who slotted home the equalizer past RSL keeper Erica Owens (five saves). With a 1-1 draw at halftime, the Blue Heat substituted midfielder Arielle Roy-Petitclerc and forward Julia Hernandez into the game.

The subs brought some energy to the Santa Clarita attack as Owens had to make two saves in a two minute span to keep the score even. The Blue Heat would get the game-winner from their leading scorer Massey (four goals). Owens failed to punch out Yadira Toraya’s driven cross from the flank and the ball found Massey at the far post, whose header trickled inside the goal for the final score. Santa Clarita out-shot RSL by a 8-5 margin and also won the corner kick battle, 6-1.

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LANCASTER INFERNO 4, NEW YORK MAGIC 1

MILLERSVILLE, PA - Saturday night was a success for the Lancaster Inferno in more ways than one. First, the Inferno (3-4) scored three first half goals en route to a 4-1 win over the New York Magic (0-4-1) at Millersville University’s Pucillo Field. Lancaster also broke their three-game losing streak. And last but certainly not least, they brought awareness to Tony Forte’s fight with Hirschsprung’s Disease and the “The Antonio Forte Transplant Fund Trust.”

The Inferno were led by veteran midfielder Teresa Rynier in the win, as she notched a goal and an assist. Rynier and her teammates came out of the gates flying and she helped start the scoring in the 10th minute, assisting on Katie Hackos’ goal for the 1-0 lead. Lancaster kept their foot on the gas, going up 2-0 in the 18th minute as Rynier helped set up Amy Rieker’s first goal of the season.

New York would respond in the 29th minute as Shani Abrahams would tally her third goal of 2016 on an assist from Maura Torres. Hackos would return the favor to Rynier in the 38th minute, making a great pass to the veteran to give the Inferno the commanding 3-1 lead going into halftime. The Magic would hold back the Lancaster offense for most of the second half, who were pushing forward for the fourth goal.

The pressure on the New York defense paid off in the 79th minute, as Sydney Blomquist’s corner kick found Bailey Corbin and her header flew past Magic goalkeeper Samantha Depken (four saves). Emily Dolan got the win for the home side and shared time in net with Emily Armstrong (four combined saves). The Inferno would out-shoot New York by a 14-8 margin.

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NEW JERSEY COPA F.C. 2, NEW ENGLAND MUTINY 1

WEST WINDSOR, NJ - New Jersey Copa F.C. took charge of the race for the East Conference title on Saturday afternoon at Mercer County Community College. With their 2-1 win over the New England Mutiny, Copa (6-1-1) are now one win away from wearing the East crown and receiving the automatic berth into the UWS National Final, where they would face the West champion the weekend of July 30-31. NJCFC’s Jeanine Nunez would notch her second straight game-winning goal in UWS East action in the 66th minute.

New England (4-3) would open the scoring in the 13th minute, as Kate Howarth put Rachel Ugolik in 1v1 on goal via a long ball from the left flank. Ugolik would slot her shot inside the right post past Copa goalkeeper Kristyn Shea (one save) - her teammate at Providence College - for the 1-0 lead. It was the third goal in as many matches for Ugolik. In the 35th minute, Copa would equalize as substitute Alexis Williams crossed a ball from the right flank that was misdirected into the Mutiny net by a New England defender.

Nunez had a chance in the 63rd minute to put NJCFC up 2-1 but Mutiny goalkeeper Anne-Marie Ulliac (three saves) made a sliding stop on her chance inside the box. Than, Shea dove to cover a redirected cross in front of her goal with several New England players pressuring inside the six. Copa’s growing stature in the game paid off in the 66th minute. Jenny Bitzer sent her teammate in with a pass from near midfield and Nunez ran onto the ball on the left flank and with Ulliac coming out, slid the ball into the near side for the game-winner.

About United Women’s Soccer (UWS): UWS is a national women’s soccer league sanctioned by U.S. Soccer through the United States Adult Soccer Association (USASA). UWS is a professionally operated league created for teams that meet high minimum standards. The season runs from May until the end of July, culminating in a National Championship match. The UWS player pool is comprised of college players, aspiring & former professionals and international stars. You can follow UWS on social media on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

UWS is managed by EDP, a leading soccer management company that runs a number of leagues and tournaments.  In addition to UWS, EDP operates youth leagues that includes an NPL league, the EDP Super Club program, the EDP Premier League and the EDP Championship League. EDP also runs EDP Futures programs for U-7’s to U-12’s and it conducts more than 20 youth tournaments, including tournaments within its EDP Cup Series and EDP Showcase Series.

Media can contact UWS Director of Communications Jorma Kansanen by e-mail at Press@UWSSoccer.com. You can visit the league’s official website at UWSSoccer.com. Interested team applicants can contact League Commissioner Joe Ferrara by e-mail at Joe@UWSSoccer.com.