The 2012 NASL Championship Series kicks off tonight as the Minnesota Stars host the Tampa Bay Rowdies in the first leg.

The Stars are looking to perfect their Cinderella run like they did last year after upsetting the No. 1 seed Scorpions in the Semifinals. After tying 0-0 in Minnesota, the Stars traveled to San Antonio in hopes of winning the series away from home. They shocked the Scorpions by overcoming the 1-0 deficit at halftime, with Simone Bracallelo scoring the game winner in the 82nd minute.

On the other side of the board, the Rowdies advanced to the NASL Championship Series by defeating the RailHawks on a 5-4 aggregate score. Going home to Tampa Bay with a 2-1 advantage, the Rowdies fought hard with the RailHawks for 90 minutes to a 3-3 tie. In a game that saw two penalty kicks, the RailHawks came out fast on top, scoring two goals in the first 20 minutes. But the Rowdies were not ready to be defeated, coming back to tie 3-3 and win on their advantage from the first leg.

To catch up more on the second leg of the two Semifinal Series, check out the NASL Weekly Rewind, Soccer By Ives and Soccer America.

In other news, the league announced this week that Pablo Campos was named the 2012 NASL Golden Ball winner. Campos led the league in scoring with 20 goals in the regular season and led his team to become the 2012 Regular Season Champions.

Also, Jonah Freedman of MLSsoccer.com recently took a look at what a working partnership between MLS and NASL would look like with player loans.

As for U.S. National team news, the U.S. Men’s National Team defeated both Antigua & Barbuda and Guatemala to advance to the Final Round of 2014 World Cup Qualifying. The team will find out their schedule within the next 30 days when CONCACAF holds their hexagonal draw.

Also on the National team front, the U.S. U-15 and U-14 Girls National Teams will be training at WakeMed Soccer Park from Oct. 20-28.

To watch the first leg of the NASL Championship Series tonight, go to NASL.com/live. Kickoff is at 8:30p.m