Weekend Showdowns: Salt Lake City and Ft. Wayne Edge Out Close Wins

Chicago - Illinois - Saturday, Jan. 31, delivered plenty of excitement as Salt Lake City Utah Uprising and Ft. Wayne Summit City Sentinels each came away with narrow road victories.

Both matches featured early leads, late rallies and a decisive fourth quarter.

Here's the weekend recap:

Salt Lake City defeated Phoenix 10–8 on Jan. 31 at the Arizona Sports Complex. Salt Lake City built an early advantage, scoring four times in the first quarter and adding three more goals in the second to take a 7–1 lead into halftime. Phoenix responded in the third period with four goals to cut into the deficit, but Salt Lake City answered with a goal late in the quarter to maintain control.

Both teams traded goals in a busy fourth period. Salt Lake City added two more, including a power-play goal, while Phoenix scored three times in the final minutes. Salt Lake City finished with 10 goals on 38 shots, compared to 23 shots for Phoenix, and held on to secure the two-goal road win.

Ft. Wayne earned a 7–6 road win over Kalamazoo on Jan. 31 at Let’s Play Soccer – Portage. Ft. Wayne jumped out to an early lead with three first-quarter goals and carried a 3–1 advantage into the second period. Kalamazoo responded with four goals in the second, briefly taking a 5–4 lead at halftime, and added another early in the third to extend the margin to 6–4.

Ft. Wayne mounted a comeback in the fourth quarter, scoring three times to regain the lead. Jennifer Reyesopened the scoring in the period before Leila Mojtahedi converted a penalty kick to tie the match. Leena Thomasnetted the game-winning goal with just under two minutes remaining to complete the comeback. Ft. Wayne finished with a 43–36 edge in shots in a tightly contested match.