MUSKEGON – The Muskegon Risers have proven that they can dominate the four other teams in the National Premier Soccer League’s Great Lakes Conference.

Now they’re about to face a new challenge, taking on an elite team from another conference in the semifinal round of the NPSL’s Midwest Region playoffs.

The Risers will host Duluth FC, the second-place team from the NPSL’s Northern Division, on Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Oakridge High School. If they win they will host the winner of the Cleveland-Med City game in the Midwest Region finals on Sunday at 3 p.m.

The Risers will host all three games of the Midwest Region playoff. Cleveland and Med City will square off at 4:30 p.m. on Friday at Oakridge, immediately before the Risers’ game.

Muskegon’s Vitalis Takawira, who scored both goals in the Risers’ conference championship victory over Columbus last week. Photo/Jeremy Clark

Advanced tickets for the entire day are available for $8 ($4 for youth) at MuskegonRisers.com/tickets. Admission at the gate will be $10 and $5.

The Risers, who are the top seed in the region, will see a team from outside of their conference for the first time this season. While they were very familiar with all of their conference opponents – Columbus, Carpathia, Milwaukee and Chicago – they have never played Duluth, and will rely on video to prepare.

“I watched them this morning (on video), and I’m going to watch them again in some other games,” said Risers Coach Stu Collins. “I know they are a good team, they have some good players, they move the ball well and they play with high energy. They do a lot of things well. They were probably the best team in their conference, but got a little unlucky (in the regular season).

“They will probably be our toughest opponent to date. We felt all along that we would cross paths with them at some point. From the start we felt like they were a team we would have to beat.”

The Risers pose after winning the conference title last week. Photo/Jeremy Clark

The Risers, 8-0-2 on the season, clinched the Great Lakes Conference title last week with a 2-0 victory over Columbus and earned a first-round playoff bye.

Duluth, 11-2-1, reached the semifinals by beating Columbus, the second-place team in the Risers’ division, 3-1 earlier this week.

Collins has said all season that he’s not terribly concerned about preparing for any particular opponent, because he’s confident in his team’s abilities, as long as the Risers play the way they can.

He’s taking the same approach to Friday’s big game.

“We’ve been relying on video to make the best analysis (of Duluth) we can make, which is something we do regularly in the coaching world,” he said. “Duluth, Minnesota is quite a long way away. It’s more a case of us trying to focus on ourselves. We want to make our players aware of certain traits and characteristics they might have, but we won’t change what we do. The expectation is to perform to our ability.”

Collins think the urgency of the situation will help the Risers be the best they can on Friday, since the playoffs are single elimination, and one loss means the end of the season.

“Ultimately you need to have that desire to continue to play,” the coach said.