Demon Hawks roll in second half, will play in third straight championship game

OMAHA, Nebraska -- It took the Iowa Demon Hawks more than two quarters to get rolling but once they did, they were unstoppable in the second half to take a 8-5 win over the OKC Certified Lions to reach their third straight Major Arena Soccer League 2 title games.

The Lions held a 2-0 lead at intermission, but the Demon Hawks had a first-round bye while OKC played Friday night in Des Moines in an opening round win over United Elite Krajisnik. That may have played a factor as the fresher Demon Hawks scored six unanswered goals, including two just 23 second apart to erase a 3-1 lead with just under five minutes to play in the third. 

Two years ago, Iowa defeated the Rochester Lancers for their only MASL 2 championship. Last year, they lost in double overtime to the Chihuahua Savage 2. 

In Saturday's win, Eddie Martinez and Jeanderson Pereira each had two goals and one assist. Pedro Henrique Sanchez got the game winner with 37 seconds to go in the third. Jose Medina had a pair of goals for the Certified Lions. 

The Demon Hawks will meet the winner of Saturday night's game between the No 1 seeded Harrisburg Heat and the No. 6 seeded Omaha Kings on Sunday at Baxter Arena in Omaha. Kick off is at 4 p.m. CDT with the game to be available live and free of charge on YouTube.