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When the teams take the field for the Premier Development League Semifinals, there will be one team with the clear distinction of the favorite as the defending champion Laredo Heat’s playoff experience over the past three years dwarves that of their opponent Tyrell Burgess’ Reading Rage and the other semifinal participants Vancouver and Thunder Bay.
Laredo will be seeking to become the first team to reach the PDL Championship game three straight years after becoming the first team to reach the semifinals in three consecutive, besting Orange County’s run of three semifinal appearances in four years. But the Heat will have to get past the Reading Rage, who in their first playoff appearance since 1998 knocked off the defending Eastern Conference champion Brooklyn Knights.
Reading enters the contest tied for the league’s second-best defense with Chicago, having allowed only 12 goals in 16 games. The Rage posted seven shutouts on the season and added another in their 1-0 victory over Brooklyn a week ago in the conference final.
Laredo, however, boasts a defense that only gave up three more goals on the year and an offense that ranked close to Reading with 33 scored to Reading’s 32. The Heat, however, arguably have the upper hand beyond home field advantage, having defeated the league’s top defense in the postseason with division rival Austin having allowed just 11 goals on the year.
The Heat had tough outings during the season against Austin with a 1-0 loss at home and 3-1 defeat in Austin, but when the postseason pressure was on in the conference final, they avenged the two losses by eliminating the Aztex 3-1 with a pair of goals from US U-20 international and 2007 PDL Championship MVP Felix Garcia.
The Heat and Rage have drastically different franchise and playoff histories. Laredo has found immediate success in the league in its first four official seasons of play by reaching the playoffs each year and the past two league finals for a postseason record of 9-2-1 heading into the semifinal Saturday.
Reading, on the other hand, has been in USL since 1996, but is in the playoffs for the first time in seven years. The former USL Second Division franchise made the playoffs in its first six seasons with a record of 2-6-0, but moved to the PDL in 2004 after two losing seasons. The club posted its first winning mark last year (7-5-4) before improving to 11-3-2 this season.
In addition to Garcia, the Southern Conference Champions are led by 2008 All-Conference selection Juan Ibarra in the midfield. Ibarra set up both of Garcia’s goals in the conference final and finished the regular season with five goals and eight assists. In addition to the three postseason tallies, Garcia scored 11 times in the 2008 campaign to finish tied for 10th in points and tied for seventh in goals.
After a fantastic championship performance last year that would have left him as the leading contender for the conference’s best goalkeeper, Ryan Cooper found himself in the shadow of Austin’s Miguel Gallardo, who took the league’s GAA Championship at 0.615. Cooper was not far behind, finishing fifth in the league with a mark of 0.883.
Reading also had two representatives on the All-Conference team with forward James Taranto and midfielder Adam Gazda receiving honors. Gazda led the team in points with a balanced effort of six goals and six assists, and was also second in minutes played. Taranto led the team in goals with seven on the season. Taranto notched a goal and assist in the club’s 4-2 overtime conference semifinal win over Newark. Bermuda international Burgess, will be looking to add to his three regular season goals with a pair of penalty conversions in the playoffs, the second proving to be the 1-0 game-winner against Brooklyn.
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