2009 Women's Professional Soccer Playoffs

The 2009 WPS Playoffs were the postseason to Women's Professional Soccer's 2009 Season, that started on August 15 and culminated on August 22 at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California.

Format edit

The top four WPS teams, based on their regular season finishes, qualified for the playoffs. In the First Round, the third-ranked team hosted the fourth-ranked team. The winner of that match advances to the Super Semifinal, where they traveled to the second-ranked team. Finally, the regular season first-ranked team hosted the winner of the Super Semifinal in the WPS Championship match.

This format, fairly unusual in the American sports landscape, preserves the knockout-style postseason most American sports fans are familiar with, while also highly favoring the regular season first-ranked team.

Standings edit

Place Team GP W L T GF GA GD Points
1 Los Angeles Sol 20 12 3 5 27 10 +17 41
2 Saint Louis Athletica 20 10 6 4 19 15 +4 33
3 Washington Freedom 20 8 7 5 32 32 0 29
4 Sky Blue FC 20 7 8 5 19 20 -1 26
5 Boston Breakers 20 7 9 4 18 20 -2 25
6 Chicago Red Stars 20 5 10 5 18 25 -7 20
7 FC Gold Pride 20 4 10 6 17 28 -11 18

Bracket edit

Results edit

First round edit

Washington Freedom1 – 2Sky Blue FC
De Vanna   79' Report Kai   56'
Francielle   85'
Attendance: 4,217
Referee: Daniel Fitzgerald

Super Semifinal edit

Saint Louis Athletica0 – 1Sky Blue FC
Logterman   90' Report Dowling   30'
Schnur   67'
Kai   78'
Attendance: 5,064
Referee: Ted Unkel

WPS Championship edit

Los Angeles Sol0 – 1Sky Blue FC
Report O'Reilly   16'
Attendance: 7,218
Referee: Kari Seitz
 
 
 
 
 
 
Los Angeles Sol
 
 
 
 
 
 
Sky Blue
FC
LOS ANGELES SOL:
GK 23   Karina LeBlanc
DF 22   Manya Makoski
DF 11   Brittany Bock   52'
DF 3   Allison Falk   27'
DF 14   Stephanie Cox
MF 6   McCall Zerboni   36'
MF 4   Aly Wagner   63'
MF 7   Shannon Boxx (c)
MF 8   Aya Miyama
FW 10   Marta
FW 9   Han Duan   79'
Substitutes:
GK 1   Val Henderson
DF 2   Keri Sanchez
DF 19   Sharolta Nonen   36'
DF 21   Johanna Frisk
MF 17   Liz Bogus
MF 18   Katie Larkin   63'
FW 16   Lyndsey Patterson   79'
Manager:
  Abner Rogers
SKY BLUE FC:
GK 23   Jenni Branam
DF 17   Keeley Dowling
DF 4   Jen Buczkowski
DF 3   Christie Rampone (c)
DF 12   Meghan Schnur
MF 20   Kacey White
MF 10   Yael Averbuch
MF 24   Francielle
FW 9   Heather O'Reilly (MVP)   84'
FW 11   Rosana   72'
FW 6   Natasha Kai   68'
Substitutes:
GK 22   Cori Alexander
DF 38   Julianne Sitch
MF 7   Kelly Parker
MF 13   Noelle Keselica   84'
MF 14   Collette McCallum   72'
FW 15   Katie Hooker
FW 16   Kerri Hanks   68'
Manager:
  Christie Rampone

MATCH OFFICIALS

  • Assistant referees:
    • Marlene Duffy
    • Veronica Perez
  • Fourth official: Margaret Domka

MATCH RULES

  • 90 minutes.
  • 30 minutes of extra-time if necessary.
  • Penalty shoot-out if scores still level.
  • Seven named substitutes.
  • Maximum of three substitutions.

Media coverage edit

Both the First Round and the WPS Championship was viewable on Fox Sports Network, while the Super Semifinal was on Fox Soccer Channel. Also, all three matches were webcast on the WPS website.

Notes and references edit

See also edit