3/30/10 - The Louisville Lightning will reenergize their attack to host the North American Champion San Diego Sockers on April 10 at Mockingbird Valley Soccer Arena.

The Lightning and Sockers will be playing in the final of the US Open Arena Soccer Championships, the nation’s largest pro-am arena soccer tournament.  What began with over 40 teams in November is now down to two survivors.

Louisville has been idle since February 26.  In order to shake off the rust, the Lightning have enlisted the competition of their top rivals the 1790 Cincinnati Express to visit for a sparring match on April 2 at Mockingbird.  That game will be free to the public.

San Diego last played, of course, on March 13 when they clinched the North American Championship with a 9-8 win over La Raza de Guadalajara.

Louisville arguably had the more difficult path to the final.  The Lightning count wins over the West Virginia Quantum Force (PASL-Premier), Ohio Vortex, Detroit Waza, and Cincinnati.  San Diego’s draw included a bye and three wins over top PASL-Premier teams, the San Diego Fusion, Estadio Azteca All-Stars, and Vitesse Dallas.  Both Estadio and Vitesse upset PASL-Pro teams to advance in the tournament.

While the Sockers are enjoying the spoils of their championship, the Lightning were the odd team out, missing the playoffs by just one game.  The teams did not meet in the regular season, but it has become a matchup that both teams are looking forward to.

Lightning Head Coach Scott Budnick won the league’s Coach of the Year honors after leading the expansion team to an 11-5 record despite having just one player (David Horne) on his roster with prior professional indoor experience.  This didn’t sit well with some Sockers players who felt their own coach Phil Salvagio should have won the award.  Despite a roster deep with veteran talent, the Sockers, an expansion team in their own right, finished with the league’s best record at 13-3 and went on to win the title.

This has the makings of a arm-wrestling contest between the western swagger of the Sockers and the upstart brashness of the eastern Lightning.