Hawks, Cincinnati, Dallas RPFC, Detroit all through to Saturday's playoff semifinals

DETROIT, Michigan -- The Iowa Demon Hawks, Cincinnati Sirens and Dallas RPFC are all through the the 2025-26 Major Arena Soccer League Women playoff semifinal games following their opening round wins in Detroit on Friday.

The Demon Hawks rolled past Texas Lone Star, 8-2, while Cincinnati dispatched the undefeated and second-seeded ICT Aztecs 6-3 and Dallas RPFC bested FC Berlin, 8-4. Following is a recap of each of today's quarterfinals games.

IOWA DEMON HAWKS 7, TEXAS LONE STAR 2

The Hawks conceded the game's first goal, but pretty much dominated throughout with a lineup that features a half dozen star players from last season Chihuahua Savage women's team that one the first-ever league championship.

In fact, the score could have been more lopsided if not for the standout play of Texas netminder Terrie Tchoffo who was under pressure from the start to the finish of the game's first day. Lone Star was able to cut the deficit to 4-2 midway through the third quarter on a goal by Sofia Ochoa, but Iowa closed things out with three straight.

Karina Katz led the way with her three goals while teammate Andrea Gallegos -- a second team All MASL W pick this season -- added two goals. Getting lone goals were Denisse  Valdez, league MVP Silvia Castillo and Martha Saenz. Getting the win in goal was Alondra Tinajero. It is the second straight semifinals appearance for the Demon Hawks. 

For Texas, Ana Bonilla opened the scoring with just under three minutes to play in the first.

CINCINNATI SIRENS 6, ICT AZTECS 3

The Sirens showed their championship pedigree, downing the No 2 seed in the tournament who came in undefeated. Observers will say that virtually any team that made the field had a chance to win this year, that most of them were pretty equal on paper, so the seedings didn't matter as much as they might in other situations, and that's exactly what the Sirens showed.

They scored the game's first four goals to take a 4-0 lead four minutes into the second quarter. ICT rallied with two in a row, and cut the deficit to 5-3 at one point in the second half, but the Aztecs, who had some good looks especially early in the fourth, were thwarted by winning Cincinnati goaltender Angel Hailey.

Kelsey Keown had a hat trick to lead the Sirens while Natalie Oronoz had a pair. Asha Vilaythong had the other Cincinnati score. Makayla Morgan, Emma Gervy and Nayeli Gallo had the ICT goals, who were eliminated in the first-round of last year's post season as well. 

Cincinnati will showdown with Dallas RPFC Saturday at 7 p.m. at Detroit City Fieldhouse to determine who will play in Sunday's championship tilt. All games are broadcast live and free of charge on the Detroit City FC YouTube Channel. 

DALLAS RPFC 8, FC BERLIN 4

Dalls RPFC fans have one question? Alyssa Valdez, where ya been?

Valdez, who in 15 games over the past two years for RPFC had scored five goals, scored five in this one to lead the way to Saturday's semifinals., their second straight, after knocking off the first-year FC Berlin team out of Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, the first-ever MASL W team north of the border.

RPFC lost to Chihuahua, 6-3, in last year's semifinals. They will take on Cincinnati at 7 p.m. Saturday at Detroit City Field House. All playoff games are being streamed live on the Detroit City FC YouTube Channel. 

RPFC built a 4-0 lead at the break, and built that to 6-1 before Berlin tried to rally, getting no closer than four the rest of the way. Other goal scorers for Dallas were Kenne Kessler, Leslie Razo and Taylor Tufts. For FC Berlin, Brianne Desa had two goals and Marisa Oliveria had the other score. 

DETROIT CITY 6, LOUISVILLE TRIUMPH 5

Erin Torrence was a one woman wrecking crew in the first half -- she scored all four of Detroit's goals as they took a 4-2 lead at the break -- as the hosts downed Louisville to advance to Saturday's 3:30 kickoff in a semi-finals showdown against No. 1 seeded Iowa Demon Hawks.

Louisville was as close to being Detroit's equals as possible in a tight, well-played game that put the MASL W talent on full display., They rallied to tie the game at 5-5 with 4:38 to play on a goal by Kamder Pierce, in her first game for the Triumph this season. 

But who else but Torrence got the game winner with 2:13 to play. Louisville pulled their netminder for a sixth-attacker in the final minute, but an ait tight Detroit defense didn't really allow any close chances and closed out the win. Kerstyn Williams, named Goalkeeper of the Year in the league this week, came up big on a number of occasions to keep Louisville from ever actually taking a lead. 

Kayla Addison got the other Detroit score. Louisville's goals came from Brielle Heuglin and Emma Nicholson who scored two each. 

This was the only matchup of the first round that featured two division winners against each other. They played twice in the regular season, with each team taking a 9-7 win on their home floor.