Albion San Diego will take on the Michigan Stars at Canyon Crest Academy on Sunday to close out the regular season in hopes of finishing among the top two seeds in the NISA standings. Albion is in third place with 40 points, which is one point better than the Stars and one point behind second-seed LA Force.

The advantage for Michigan is that it has played two fewer matches than San Diego and Los Angeles and is coming off a dramatic 1-0 victory over the Force at Romeo Stadium on Thursday night. The ending to that game was not without controversy as the goal for Michigan came in the 100th minute after 10 minutes of added time was given. The two sides came to blows on the pitch as benches cleared immediately after the final whistle with authorities reportedly having to be called.

In order to clinch the second-seed, which brings with it a bye in the quarterfinal round of the playoffs, Albion needs a win and a loss or draw by Los Angeles in its regular season finale versus Gold Star FC Detroit plus some help from Club de Lyon in its last two games against Michigan. The team, led by head coach Diego Gomez, can also clinch a second seed with a draw and a loss by LA plus Michigan not winning either of its last two games versus Club de Lyon, but that scenario seems less like. A third seed is still in the works for Albion San Diego, but would still need help from both Gold Star and Club de Lyon with goal differential potentially coming into play.

If things stay as they are, Albion finishes as the third-seed seed and takes on Flower City Union at Canyon Crest in the quarterfinal round. The last time those two sides faced each other was in Rochester, N.Y. ending in a 1-1 draw on a last-minute goal by Flower City.

Albion made it to the 2022 NISA championship match after finishing as the fourth seed in the regular season.

Photo by John Cocozza Photography