8/5/12 - The Las Vegas Knights and Soccer World Elk Grove took home PASL-Premier Summer National Championships Sunday at Las Vegas Indoor Soccer.

The Knights beat the Sacramento Scorpions 3-2 in shootouts, while Soccer World edged out Phoenix’s Prove It, 3-1 in a goalkeepers’ duel.

Las Vegas won its bracket to earn a bye into Sunday’s semifinals with wins over Alamo City and Chico.  Sacramento did the same by taking out Phoenix and holding off a pesky Toros Premier.

In the first semifinal Las Vegas held on for a 2-1 win over that same Toros team.  Knights goalkeeper Ezequiel Sanchez won several new admirers with his clutch performance which included a game-saving stop in the final 10 seconds.  Big-bodied Brazilian Rodrigo Barbirato scored the eventual game winner with a thunderous strike from the corner into the upper reaches of the far post.

The Scorpions had an easier time in their semifinal against Phoenix, winning 6-3.  The Scorpions were led by goalkeeper Dominik Jakubek and forward Enrique Tovar.

The final game was an epic struggle between two heavyweights.  Las Vegas scored first and last, sandwiching two Sacramento goals.  Tied 2-2, neither team could score in the game’s final 6:45 necessitating a shootout.  That included a Sacramento power play that lasted the 4th quarter’s final two minutes.

Barbirato scored first with a nifty move that earned a respectful pat on the back from Jakubek, the beaten goalkeeper.  Reggie Parks made it 2-0 in the shootout after Sanchez stopped the Scorpions first attempt.

Tovar calmly beat Sanchez on Sacramento’s second attempt to cut the lead to 2-1.

With Luis "Lucho" Suarez shooting for the win, the wily Jakubek came out and did a forward roll trying to catch Suarez off guard and it worked well enough to keep the game alive.  Jakubek took the third attempt for Sacramento and his first shot was saved and his rebound hit the crossbar, preserving the win and the Summer National Championship for Las Vegas.

This is the second championship for the Knights who won the Winter National Championship in 2010/11.

On the women’s side Soccer World repeated as Women’s National Champions over a Prove It team that had dominated its three prior games.  Prove It rolled through their bracket and the semifinal game by a combined 19-1 score, including a 6-1 win over the host Lady Knights.  In its preliminary game with the Lady Knights, Soccer World tied 4-4.

But in the championship it was Soccer World carrying much of the play with only spectacular goalkeeping allowing Soccer World a puncher’s chance in the game.