Austin Aztex Soccer
Good News: Aztex Are Playoff-Bound! Bad News: The Playoffs Are In Ocala, Florida
This past Saturday, the Austin Aztex lost its final regular season game of the 2012 season, 1-0, to the New Orleans Jesters — but by beating the El Paso Patriots by the same margin the week before, Austin found its way into the top two in its division and into the playoffs.
Austin, however, won't be hosting the four-team tournament to determine the champion of the United Soccer Leagues' Premier Development League's Southern Conference. That honor goes to the Ocala Stampede, winners of the Southeast Division, who will be the Aztex' opponent this coming Friday.
The Laredo Heat, who edged out the Aztex for the first spot in the Mid-South Division, will face the Southeast Division runner-up Orlando City U23 team at 4:30 p.m. CST, and the Aztex play the Stampede at 7 p.m. CST.
Winners of the Friday matches face off Sunday at 4 p.m. (If it ends up being Austin vs. Orlando City, it'll be a weird quirk of Aztex' history — Orlando City's U23 team is the development team tied to the Orlando City FC franchise — the USL pro franchise that started as Austin Aztex in 2008, and has aims to become an MLS expansion team.)
Interested in a road trip? The host stadium, at Ocala's Trinity Catholic Stadium, is located 1,051 miles from the Aztex' House Park home.
(Though you could not bypass New Orleans — it'd add 23 miles to your trip, but you would get to stop in New Orleans...)