[NASL] The regular-season champion San Antonio Scorpions played to a 0-0 tie with the defending champion Minnesota Stars Saturday night in the first leg of their NASL semifinal series in front of 2,006 fans at NSC Stadium.

The teams meet again next Sunday at Heroes Stadium.

The Stars outshot the Scorpions 12-8 for the night, but each keeper was only called upon to make four saves.

“It’s a playoff game, so the intensity is going to be a lot higher, and the first 20 minutes they came out and were a lot more physical than us," said Stars captain Kyle Altman. "They were first to the ball, and I think it kind of took us that epiphany moment where we needed to realize that we needed to match their physicality, and when we could do that, we could start playing some soccer."

Oct. 6 in Blaine, Minn.
Minnesota 0 San Antonio 0.
Minnesota -- VanOekel, Davis, Kallman, Altman, Tobin, Hlavaty, Watson (Takada, 80), Ibarra, Rodriguez, Bracalello, Walker (Del Co, 85).
San Antonio -- Sattler, Knight, Janicki, Wagner, Cochrane, Harmse, Ramirez, Greenfield, Pitchkolan, Denissen (Bayona, 85), Campos,
Referee: Marcos Deoliveira.
Att.: 2,006.

(Click here for Carolina-Tampa Bay story.)