2024 WISL Championship Preview

Written by Merrick Parnell (Icon Productions Marketing) 

Tickets for the Final are available here, use password WISLFINALS- This ticket will be good for both the WISL Final and the Tacoma Stars game versus Harrisburg Heat to follow. Please come out and support the WISL in it's final game of this great season. 

It's Championship Week in the Western Indoor Soccer League (WISL). After a long season, featuring the most games in league history due to the addition of several expansion teams, just two clubs remain, and they will play this weekend for the WISL title. The Tacoma Stars Reserves (TSR) and Bellingham United FC (BUFC) will battle it out for the championship this Sunday, March 3rd, at the accesso ShoWare Center in Kent, home of the Professional Tacoma Stars in the Major Arena Soccer League (MASL).

"We've seen these two teams match up in the final many times in our nine years as a league, and this always proves to be one of the highest-energy, best games you can watch on turf," said WISL Commissioner John Crouch. "Many of these players know each other really well and appreciate the long-standing competition. We are excited to see this game happen at accesso ShoWare Center on the big field with the big goals; the entertainment will be electric," Crouch exclaimed.

The number one-seeded TSR squad reached the finals after a 7-4 victory over the Oly-Pen Force in the Semi-Final round. In the regular season, Tacoma put together a 9-1 campaign.

Pictured here Tacoma Stars Reserves here after their last win at the accesso ShoWare Center in the 2021-22 season. 

Tacoma Coach Adam Becker was pleased with his club's play in the Semi-Final game. "I thought our Semi-Final vs Oly Pen was our most complete game this year. Especially in the third quarter, our play was great; defending in the attacking third allowed us to spend more time on offense and limited their chances to get at us in transition. We will be looking to replicate the same for the final," Becker said.

Looking ahead to Bellingham, Becker is expecting a hard-fought contest against a club that Tacoma has often faced in the finals.

"Bellingham is a very good team that we know very well. Since I have been with the reserves, only one final (last year) wasn't Bellingham vs Tacoma. Bellingham is organized, lethal in the attacking third, and very good in transitional play. If we can limit transitional moments, capitalize in the attacking third, and control the controllable, I think we will have a good opportunity to claim the trophy," Becker stated.

Meanwhile, second-seeded BUFC is playing in the finals after a 6-3 victory over FC Olympia in their Semi-Final match.

"We managed to pin Olympia into their defensive third and attack them from different spaces. We knew they would want to break out in fast transitions, so the tendency is to leave some players back as cover, but we were really brave and kept players high to try and really suffocate them before the turnover can happen," said BUFC Head Coach Rich Henderson. Bellingham finished with an 8-2-0 record in the regular season before winning in the playoffs.

Henderson and his Bellingham squad have trained hard for their championship match this weekend.

"Tacoma is less transitional and will look to impose their play style on us by drawing us out and moving us around with butterfly rotations and entry passes into the target," Henderson said. "We have done our due diligence and identified their most predicted patterns and main players, but ultimately, it's not knowing what they will do. It's stopping it and not switching off. Consistency is key as they'll ask us questions; a big key is not getting caught watching the ball," he continued.

In addition to the match, there will be an awards ceremony during halftime of the Star's pro match.

Pictured here- Bellingham United capping off 3 straight championships with this win at home in 2018. Click here for a highlight reel.

"We are also looking forward to the halftime presentations with WISL teams and the Northwest Premier League Indoor (NWPLi) Championship, and we will present the WISL Golden Boot, West Coast Goalkeeping Goalkeeper of the Year award as well as other fun activities getting the teams competing against each other" stated Commissioner Crouch.

Championship Match Details

Bellingham United FC vs Tacoma Stars Reserves

March 3rd, 2:00 PM, Acesso ShoWare (Kent, WA)

Tickets for the Final are available here, use password WISLFINALS- This ticket will be good for both the WISL Final and the Tacoma Stars game versus Harrisburg Heat to follow.