RivCo WPSL Soccer Team Represents SoCal In The 2026 Regional Semifinals

TEMECULA, CA — The Southwest Riverside County Women's Premiere Soccer League (WPSL) team, SoCal Union FC, heads to Northern California Saturday to represent the Southern California teams in the West Region Playoffs. Temecula-based SoCal Union FC will face the California Storm, a team they fell to in the 2025 semifinals.

The semifinal action kicks off Saturday at the Davis Legacy Soccer Complex at 7 p.m., with the game livestreamed at www.WPSL.TV.

California Storm is a five-time WPSL champion and promises to give Temecula's SoCal Union FC strong competition, but don't count this team out just yet. SoCal Union, led by coach Rudy Canales and team owner Josh Fredrickson, brings with them grit and tenacity.

"So Cal Union FC (5-2-2) returns to the West Region Playoffs for a second consecutive year after winning the SoCal Conference in dramatic fashion," a WPSL spokesperson said. "Going 4-2-2 in Plymouth Division play, So Cal Union FC finished two points out of first place in the division behind Rebels Soccer Club, which opted out of postseason play, setting the stage for So Cal Union FC’s dramatic win over the Coastal Division champs."

The team scored in second-half added time to win the conference championship match 1-0 over Coastal Division winners MISS KICK FC.

Westmont College junior Ciara 'Cici' Caringal scored the winner in the 90+2 minute to continue So Cal Union FC’s season, according to a league spokesperson.

California State University San Marcos junior Brittany Brown led the side in scoring with three goals, followed by University of California, Riverside junior Selena Hernandez and University of San Diego senior Mikayla Abrenica, each with two goals this season. The three leading goal scorers accounted for seven of the club’s 19 goals over nine fixtures.

Goalkeeper Elizabeth Ludwig, a senior at Westmont College, kept three clean sheets and has not conceded a goal in 181 minutes.

After entering the league in 2018, So Cal Union FC made its first postseason appearance in 2025, advancing to the West Region Final, where it fell to 2025 WPSL runners-up California Storm after beating Spokane Shadow 3-2 in the semifinal round one year ago.

The SoCal Union FC players, many of whom are local Temecula and Murrieta high school graduates, with others from as far as Corona, Redlands and Lake Arrowhead to the north and San Diego County to the south, attend universities across the country. More than a handful of the 2026 team attend Westmont College in Santa Barbara.

The California Storm is a founding member of the WPSL and one of two clubs to have played in every WPSL season since the league's founding in 1998.

The other NorCal team, San Francisco Nighthawks, also plays Saturday vs. Spokane Shadow.

The winner of that game will stay and play for the West Region Championship Sunday night at 7 p.m.