3/3/10 - The 7th Annual PASL-Premier Winter Championships will be held Friday and Saturday at Las Vegas Indoor Soccer featuring 11 of the best 43 teams from across the league.  The PASL-Premier is in its 13th year overall.

Vitesse Dallas is the defending champion and perhaps the favorite.  Vitesse finished the season with an eight game winning streak to win their South Central Division.  One factor that could impact Vitesse is their US Open Semifinal game Thursday in San Diego giving them one less day of rest and an extra day of travel.

There will be four groups of three teams and each team will play two games.  The four teams that finish on top of their group will advance to the quarterfinals, but the other two teams in each group will have to play a third game Friday which will be an elimination game.  From there the quarters, semis, and final will all be played Saturday.

Group A

Detroit Waza Premier - Waza Premier won the Winter Championsip in Fredericksburg in 2007/08 and won the Great Lakes Division with a 6-0 record.

Las Vegas Knights - The Knights are the host team, but narrowly lost the Southwest Division, finishing 6-2, a game back of the San Diego Fusion.

Ft. Collins Fury - The Fury were already a tough team before they bolstered their roster with players from the Colorado Lightning this year.  The Fury were 4-2-2 and had to win two playoff games to advance from the Rocky Mountain Division.

San Diego Fusion - The official developmental team of the San Diego Sockers finished 7-1 and won their Southeast Division.  Some of their top players went on to play for the Sockers this year, but the Fusion haven’t missed a beat.

Fredericksburg Generals - Fredericksburg hosted the Winter Championships in 2007/08 and qualified this year by winning the division playoff in Winchester.

Group B

Tacoma Stars - The Tacoma Stars are led by their player/coach and three-time MISL MVP Greg Howes and Leighton O’Brien, but get consistent contributions from a number of players.  They won the Northwest Division with a 6-1-1 record and still have a bad taste from losing in last year’s semifinals.

OTW Santa Clara - Santa Clara has won the Summer Championships three times, but has never won the Winter.  They finished 6-1-1 in the Pacific Division, only losing to Estadio Azteca, but they returned the favor by beating Estadio 8-2 to end the season.

Arizona Heat  - The Heat, one of four teams from the Southwest Division here in Las Vegas, finished 4-2-2,  but their claim to fame this season is they are the only team to beat the Fusion.

Group C

Vitesse Dallas - See above.

Kansas City Kings - The Kings finished 7-0-1 last year only to lose in the Winter Championship final to Vitesse.  This year they finished 5-2-1, but they played three of their games against PASL-Pro teams and went 1-2 in those games.  The Kings will also be hungry to take the next step.

Los Angeles Bolts - The Bolts came together late this season, their first in the PASL-Premier, but with great veteran players like Bernie Lilavois and Ato Leone, they could be the bracket busting wild cards of the tournament.

Group Play Standings
Group A	Win	Loss	Tie	GF	GA	GD
Detroit Waza Premier	0	1	0	2	10	-8
Las Vegas Knights	1	1	0	12	6	+6
Fort Collins Fury	1	1	0	6	7	-1
San Diego Fusion	2	0	0	10	4	+6
Fredericksburg Generals	0	1	0	2	5	-3
Group B	Win	Loss	Tie	GF	GA	GD
Tacoma Stars	2	0	0	11	4	+7
OTW Santa Clara	0	2	0	4	16	-12
Arizona Heat	1	1	0	12	7	+5
Group C	Win	Loss	Tie	GF	GA	GD
Vitesse Dallas	2	0	0	16	9	+7
Kansas City Kings	1	1	0	13	6	+7
L.A. Bolts	0	2	0	7	21	-14