The Week That Was 2/9: Omaha, Cleveland and Toronto Secured Wins

Chicago, Ill. – Major League Indoor Soccer (MLIS) had an exciting run this weekend. The Canadian Crusaders (Toronto, Ontario) traveled to Cleveland to take on the Cleveland Crunch (Cleveland, Ohio) Saturday evening. The match concluded in another nail-biter and a 8-9 shootout (SO) win for the Crunch. Toronto then traveled to Michigan Sunday to take on Red Cedar FC (Lansing, Mich.), where they bounced back after their Cleveland loss and secured the win over Red Cedar.

Chicago Panathinaikos (Chicago PAO) traveled to Omaha to take on the Omaha Kings (Omaha, Neb.), which resulted in an intense back-and-forth match, with Omaha taking home the 9-10 win.

Here's the weekend recap:

Chicago PAO vs. Omaha Kings

The Kings came out strong in the first period, scoring four unanswered goals. Leonides Mejia scored two for Omaha, while Manuel Lira and Bernardo Torres added the others. The second period saw two early goals from Chicago PAO, scored by Aldo Monzonis and Abraham Coronado, bringing the score to 2-4. Omaha answered quickly, adding two more to extend their lead to 2-6. Chicago PAO then responded with three consecutive goals, narrowing the score to 5-6 going into the third.

The third quarter started with Luiz Marquez from Chicago PAO finding the back of the net, tying the game at 6-6. Mejia and Lira added two more for Omaha, giving the Kings an 6-8 lead before Chicago PAO closed the gap again, ending the third with an 8-9 score. Despite Chicago PAO's efforts, including tying the game 9-9 late in the fourth period, Omaha’s Matu Chol scored the decisive goal at 8:33, sealing the win. Both teams recorded a high number of shots—Omaha with 31 and Chicago PAO with 29.

Toronto vs. Cleveland

Cleveland edged out Toronto 9-8 in a shootout after a high-scoring, back-and-forth match. Toronto took control early, scoring four goals in the first period, led by Raheem Rose and Ramzey Hassan, who would go on to complete a hat trick, while Cleveland scored one.

Despite a scoreless second period for Toronto, they extended their lead in the third with goals from Yevhenii Zaiets and Hassan. Cleveland steadily closed the gap, with key goals from David Jordan, Omar Najjar and Gabriel Pewu. The fourth period saw a flurry of scoring, with Toronto’s Sebastián López tying the game 8-8 late in regulation to force overtime.

In the shootout, Cleveland capitalized on their chances while Toronto couldn’t convert, despite their strong offensive showing earlier in the game. Michael Derezic and Jordan scored for Cleveland in the SO, securing the win, while Cleveland's Marijo Musa had two SO saves.