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

Washington Freedom 1 – 2 Sky Blue FC
De Vanna  79' Report Kai  56'
Francielle  85'
Attendance: 4,217
Referee: Daniel Fitzgerald

Super Semifinal

Saint Louis Athletica 0 – 1 Sky Blue FC
Logterman Yellow card 90' Report Dowling  30'
Schnur Yellow card 67'
Kai Yellow card 78'
Attendance: 5,064
Referee: Ted Unkel

WPS Championship

Los Angeles Sol 0 – 1 Sky Blue FC
Report O'Reilly  16'
Attendance: 7,218
Referee: Kari Seitz
Los Angeles Sol
Sky Blue
FC
LOS ANGELES SOL:
GK23Canada Karina LeBlanc
DF22United States Manya Makoski
DF11United States Brittany BockYellow card 52'
DF3United States Allison FalkRed card 27'
DF14United States Stephanie Cox
MF6United States McCall Zerboni 36'
MF4United States Aly Wagner 63'
MF7United States Shannon Boxx (c)
MF8Japan Aya Miyama
FW10Brazil Marta
FW9China Han Duan 79'
Substitutes:
GK1United States Val Henderson
DF2United States Keri Sanchez
DF19Canada Sharolta Nonen 36'
DF21Sweden Johanna Frisk
MF17United States Liz Bogus
MF18United States Katie Larkin 63'
FW16United States Lyndsey Patterson 79'
Manager:
England Abner Rogers
SKY BLUE FC:
GK23United States Jenni Branam
DF17United States Keeley Dowling
DF4United States Jen Buczkowski
DF3United States Christie Rampone (c)
DF12United States Meghan Schnur
MF20United States Kacey White
MF10United States Yael Averbuch
MF24Brazil Francielle
FW9United States Heather O'Reilly (MVP) 84'
FW11Brazil Rosana 72'
FW6United States Natasha Kai 68'
Substitutes:
GK22United States Cori Alexander
DF38United States Julianne Sitch
MF7Canada Kelly Parker
MF13United States Noelle Keselica 84'
MF14Australia Collette McCallum 72'
FW15United States Katie Hooker
FW16United 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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