Arena soccer fans come to Des Moines for Major Arena Soccer League playoffs
The Iowa Demon Hawks Women's Team plays in the quarterfinals at Buccaneer Arena on Friday.
The Iowa Demon Hawks Women's Team plays in the quarterfinals at Buccaneer Arena on Friday.
The Iowa Demon Hawks Women's Team plays in the quarterfinals at Buccaneer Arena on Friday.
The Major Arena Soccer League Women’s first National Championship Playoffs is being held in the Des Moines metro area over the weekend, drawing arena soccer fans and newcomers to Buccaneer Arena.
The Iowa Demon Hawks is a team based in the metro area. They have both a men’s and women’s team. The women’s team won its quarterfinal game Friday, 7-3, over the ICT Aztecs.
The semifinals are Saturday and the championship game is Sunday.
“It’s a dream come true,” said Darwin Salas, the owner of the Iowa Demon Hawks.
Salas refers to it as a dream because the Des Moines metro area is hosting the Major Arena Soccer League Women’s inaugural championship weekend and because the Demon Hawks made it to the playoffs.
“We have teams both from Mexico and the U.S. competing; the best six teams,” Salas said.
No. 1 Detroit City FC, No. 2 Chihuahua Savage, No. 3 ICT Aztecs, No. 4 Cincinnati Sirens, No. 5 Dallas RPFC, and No. 6 Iowa Demon Hawks.
Some of those teams were there on Friday when the announcement regarding Des Moines being the place picked to host the first-ever Women’s National Indoor Soccer Championship Playoffs Weekend.
Alongside Salas were Des Moines Mayor Connie Boesen, league commissioner Chris Economides, and Loretta Sieman — a retired coach and lifelong advocate for women in sports.
“Kids across the city and across the country are hearing about this, and I’m getting calls: ‘Can we come and see? Can we come and see?’” Sieman said. “This could turn out to be one of the biggest sports in the State of Iowa and go further.”
People who came out to the quarterfinals on Friday agree.
Mary Alley Miller and her husband made the trip from Cedar Rapids to watch the entire weekend. They are diehard Demon Hawks fans, arriving dressed in the team’s gear.
“We’ve been fans of arena soccer for a few years,” Alley Miller said. “We just love the pace of the game and the way they play off the walls.”
The excitement filled Buccaneer Arena Friday before the matches even began. That excitement and the anticipation of what was to come during the weekend caused some people there to hope the event will spark inspiration in the younger generations.
“I think it brings more opportunity for women to be involved in a next level up on soccer,” Boesen said. “I think it brings up an opportunity for kids to play more soccer. We know that soccer is becoming one of the top sports in the Des Moines Metro area, and this is just another extension of it, and it brings more excitement.”