TUCSON, AZ — (Pumas release) It was a tough task for the Kitsap Pumas.

They had to play a second straight match, in worse weather conditions than the previous night (game temps were reported to be well over 100 degrees) and after an exhausting and emotional match the previous night that went 30 extra minutes.

But they persevered, winning 3-0 over FC Tucson at the Kino Sports Complex in Tucson, Arizona in front of 1,411 fans to take home the Western Conference championship. It’s the second time in club history that they’ve collected the title. The last time was 2011, when they went on to win its first ever PDL championship.

“It’s a great feeling,” assistant coach Cammy MacDonald said. “We had three goals at the start of the season: win our division, win the Western Conference and win the national championship. We’ve completed two of the three of them, and it’s taken a lot of hard work.”

MacDonald said they haven’t yet decided about putting in a bid to host the national semifinals.

Kitsap got on the board first in the seventh minute. Joaquin Rivas found Cory Keitz, who made a huge run from the Pumas penalty box to the Tucson penalty box, with a cross from the left wing that he tapped in for his first goal of the season.

Head coach Andrew Chapman said it was a big play that caught the Tucson players off guard.

“You don’t see a center back make a bombing run like that to get in the box,” he said. “He did his part to take that chance.”

That was the only big play of the first half, as both sides could not get a consistent attack going.

In the second half, Kitsap got things going and got its second goal in the 55th minute when Miguel Gonzalez got past his defender, got a headed pass from Michael Chamberlain and got the shot past FC Tucson goalkeeper Billy Thompson.

Five minutes later, the Pumas put on a passing clinic, with Keitz working with Justin Ortinau on a give and go so Ortinau could finish for his first goal on the year and effectively put the game to bed.

“That was just a fantastic goal,” MacDonald said. “The speed and quality of the give and go, and the movement off the ball – it would have been good at any level. Credit to them. Intelligent players are capable of these things.”

FC Tucson substitute Tommy Ramos was sent off for a hard challenge, but then after Kitsap got whistled for a foul, Keitz was nearly sent off himself a few moments later after picking up a straight red. But the referees took it away, as they made a mistake on who was supposed to be carded for the foul. Ortinau eventually saw yellow.

Chapman said they had no clue who the foul was supposed to be called on and felt that Ortinau was unfairly carded.

“They got the numbers confused,” he said. “They thought there was a second yellow, but we said we just subbed him in. He hasn’t got an opportunity to get a first yellow card. They looked through their notes and realized oh, they made a mistake.”

That was it for Tucson, as they lost their captain Ramon Orozco to injury late in the match, while Vance Rookwood was sent off in stoppage time to put them down to eight men by the end.

MacDonald said he and the rest of the coaching staff knew the team would be ready to compete.

“They’re all professionals,” he said. “We’ve done the right things. We made sure the guys were hydrating and eating right all this week leading up to the tournament. We made sure they were hydrating all throughout the game last night, and we made sure that they were eating and stretching and hydrating and recovering the next morning. Just checking their fluid levels and that they got a good breakfast. We just made sure that we did as much as we could for them to make sure that they could perform at their highest.”

And now, with two more wins that stands between them and its second national championship, MacDonald knows the team is a club to be reckoned with.

“I think we’ve shown everyone out there that home or away, we’re a dangerous team,” MacDonald said. “So it doesn’t matter where they put the tournament, because this squad is a dangerous squad.”