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

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

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

  First Round Super Semifinal WPS Final
                           
    1  Los Angeles Sol 0
    2  Saint Louis Athletica 0     4  Sky Blue FC 1
3  Washington Freedom 1     4  Sky Blue FC 1  
4  Sky Blue FC 2

Results

First round

August 15, 2009
4:00 pm EDT
Washington Freedom 1 – 2 Sky Blue FC
De Vanna  79' Report Kai  56'
Francielle  85'
Maryland SoccerPlex, Germantown, Maryland
Attendance: 4,217
Referee: Daniel Fitzgerald

Super Semifinal

August 19, 2009
6:00 PM CDT
Saint Louis Athletica 0 – 1 Sky Blue FC
Logterman  90' Report Dowling  30'
Schnur  67'
Kai  78'
Soccer Park, Fenton, Missouri
Attendance: 5,064
Referee: Ted Unkel

WPS Championship

August 22, 2009
1:00 PM PDT
Los Angeles Sol 0 – 1 Sky Blue FC
Report O'Reilly  16'
The Home Depot Center, Carson, California
Attendance: 7,218
Referee: Kari Seitz
Los Angeles Sol
Sky Blue
FC
LOS ANGELES SOL:
GK 23 Canada Karina LeBlanc
DF 22 United States Manya Makoski
DF 11 United States Brittany Bock  52'
DF 3 United States Allison Falk Red card 27'
DF 14 United States Stephanie Cox
MF 6 United States McCall Zerboni  36'
MF 4 United States Aly Wagner  63'
MF 7 United States Shannon Boxx (c)
MF 8 Japan Aya Miyama
FW 10Brazil Marta
FW 9China Han Duan  79'
Substitutes:
GK 1United States Val Henderson
DF 2United States Keri Sanchez
DF 19Canada Sharolta Nonen  36'
DF 21Sweden Johanna Frisk
MF 17United States Liz Bogus
MF 18United States Katie Larkin  63'
FW 16United States Lyndsey Patterson  79'
Manager:
England Abner Rogers
SKY BLUE FC:
GK 23 United States Jenni Branam
DF 17 United States Keeley Dowling
DF 4 United States Jen Buczkowski
DF 3 United States Christie Rampone (c)
DF 12 United States Meghan Schnur
MF 20 United States Kacey White
MF 10 United States Yael Averbuch
MF 24 Brazil Francielle
FW 9United States Heather O'Reilly (MVP)  84'
FW 11Brazil Rosana  72'
FW 6 United States Natasha Kai  68'
Substitutes:
GK 22United States Cori Alexander
DF 38United States Julianne Sitch
MF 7Canada Kelly Parker
MF 13United States Noelle Keselica  84'
MF 14Australia Collette McCallum  72'
FW 15United States Katie Hooker
FW 16United States Kerri Hanks  68'
Manager:
United States 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

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

    See also

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