An experienced Lancaster Inferno squad back in national semifinal for UWS

Lancaster Inferno are back in the semifinal of the UWS for the first time since 2019 and they return to the national stage with a core of players who were part of previous teams that made deep runs into the postseason.

Six players were on the team in 2019.

“Having them go through this process before and knowing what it means really helped lead the team here,” said head coach Stephanie Cleaves, who played for the Inferno 2014-16 and was an assistant when the team last made the final weekend. “That was definitely one thing that sets us apart from from maybe the other teams.”

Among the long-timers in the squad is Marissa DiGinova, a Temple grad from King of Prussia who is back with the team for a sixth season, her first time since joining Puerto Rico Sol FC in Liga Puerto Rico.

She’s in the UWS semifinals for a third time.

“We’re really hungry for a national championship this time,” DiGinova said. “We have a lot of returners this year so it’s really good to have that core group back and it definitely helps with our team chemistry and our team culture.”

Inferno were winless in their first two games to start the season, posting a season opening loss and draw in back-to-back games but they’re riding an eight-game winning streak that included overcoming a 3-0 deficit in the first round of the playoffs.

“Something pretty special about us is we didn’t really panic when we went down 3-0,” DiGinova said. “We knew we were way better than what had just happened the first couple minutes of the game. So we just kind of stayed relaxed and knew we could get the job done at halftime. We definitely regrouped and figured out what was going on.”

Cleaves said the starting lineup has been pretty consistent throughout the season and the players off the bench have been game-changers. They’ll likely need the full roster to step up against host Santa Clarita Blue Heat (2016 & 2021 National Champions) in a game kicking off at 10:30 p.m. eastern time.

“We are not under estimating any team at all,” Cleaves said. “It’s all high, high level teams in this tournament. So we just need to keep playing our game.”

Among the other standout players on the Inferno roster are Liz Wenger, a former 17th pick in the NWSL Draft who starred at Georgetown University, played professionally in Switzerland and is the younger sister of former Philadelphia Union player Andrew Wenger. Teresa (Rynier) Rook played overseas in Sweden and Iceland and was the 23rd overall draft pick of the Philadelphia Independence in 2011. Jackie Richards scored the game-winner in the 2019 Eastern Conference Championship and co-captain Ryelle Shuey is in her sixth season with the Inferno.

“We want them to want to come back every summer and they build these relationships with their teammates and and that’s why they come back,” Cleaves said. “It’s awesome to see that and it helps us so that we don’t have to rebuild every year in such a short season to do that.”

Sporting CT (Middletown, CT) and Michigan Jaguars (Novi, MI) are in the first semi, kicking off at 7 p.m. eastern. Inferno and Santa Clarita’s semifinal clash will follow at 10:30 p.m.

“I think I feel like I’ve kind of come full circle in a way because when we were here the first two times I was a lot younger,” DiGinova said. “There’s a lot more experienced players on the team. Now that I have my first professional season under my belt I’m also the captain now so I kind of feel some responsibility for leading this team along with the other girls that have returned from those previous winning seasons to finally, finally get it done. It’s a really good place to be.”

Both semifinal matches, being played at College of the Canyons in Santa Clarita, Calif., will stream live on the UWS page on Eleven Sports.