Soul clinches playoff berth

With a 17-6 victory over the Syracuse Silver Knights on Friday night at the Sears Centre Arena, the Chicago Soul clinched an MISL playoff berth in their inaugural season.

Carlos Muñoz led the way with a hat trick, giving Chicago the boost it needed to lock in the fourth and final seed.

“This is huge for the Soul organization, huge for myself and Jeff [Kraft} as coaches, and huge for the city of Chicago,” said Soul Head Coach Novi Marojevic. “This is the first time in a long time that an expansion team has gone to the playoffs in the first year. I’m extremely proud.

“I give the guys a lot of credit because it was a difficult game mentally with so much pressure riding on tonight, but they stayed focused and showed a lot of heart. They stuck to the plan and defended well, and when they do that, they are a difficult team to beat.”

Alexander Megson put the Soul ahead in the first quarter as he fired home his own rebound. Bato Radoncic followed up with a header that gave Chicago a 4-0 lead before the first quarter came to a close.

With the Soul up 8-2, Muñoz opened second-half scoring with his second goal of the night. Farias kept the momentum going when he struck from the 3-point range to make it a 13-2 Chicago lead.

The Soul held off the Silver Knights the rest of the way, and went on to secure a victory and a playoff berth that earned them a date with the No. 1 seeded Baltimore Blast.