Tropics SC welcome St. Pete Aztecs Wednesday in early season showdown

AUBURNDALE, Fla. – It will be an early-season first place showdown Wednesday night at Lake Myrtle Sports Complex when the  United Premier Soccer League Tropics SC will host St. Petersburg FC Aztecs in a 7:30 kickoff. The game will be streamed live at www.mycujoo.com.

This is the second home game for the Tropics second outdoor developmental team, with the goal of creating a pool of talent – in conjunction with a second outdoor side, the Lakeland Tropics – to move the organization to a fully professional USL League One team in the coming seasons. The Lakeland Tropics of USL League Two will start its third season of play at Bryant Stadium in Lakeland on May 11.

The Tropics SC are 2-0, with six points, while the Aztecs arrive with a 3-0-1 mark, good for 10 points, atop the UPSL Pro Premier Florida Central West division.

The UPSL Tropics SC feature many of the stars of the Florida Tropics professional indoor soccer team, which Saturday will finish its third season in the Major Arena Soccer League. Friday's roster is expected to include MASL standouts Ricardo Diegues, Victor Parreiras, Hugo Silva and Lucas Montelares. Guilherme is also part ot he Tropics SC plans, but reinjured his leg. 

The Tropics SC are coming off a 5-0 win over Clay County SC in the home opener last Friday before a crowd of 1,861. Diegues scored twice, with single goals coming from Victor Parreiras, Keisuke Ohata and Xavier Silva.

The Tropics SC opened its UPSL season with a 2-0 road win over The Institute FC at Disney's Wide World of Sports on March 27, with Diegues and Melvin Boetang getting goals, and Hugo Silva the clean sheet in goal.

Friday's match is the second of five straight home games for the Tropics SC,