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

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

WPS Championship
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:
GK23 Karina LeBlanc
DF22 Manya Makoski
DF11 Brittany Bock 52'
DF3 Allison Falk 27'
DF14 Stephanie Cox
MF6 McCall Zerboni 36'
MF4 Aly Wagner 63'
MF7 Shannon Boxx (c)
MF8 Aya Miyama
FW10 Marta
FW9 Han Duan 79'
Substitutes:
GK1 Val Henderson
DF2 Keri Sanchez
DF19 Sharolta Nonen 36'
DF21 Johanna Frisk
MF17 Liz Bogus
MF18 Katie Larkin 63'
FW16 Lyndsey Patterson 79'
Manager:
Abner Rogers
SKY BLUE FC:
GK23 Jenni Branam
DF17 Keeley Dowling
DF4 Jen Buczkowski
DF3 Christie Rampone (c)
DF12 Meghan Schnur
MF20 Kacey White
MF10 Yael Averbuch
MF24 Francielle
FW9 Heather O'Reilly (MVP) 84'
FW11 Rosana 72'
FW6 Natasha Kai 68'
Substitutes:
GK22 Cori Alexander
DF38 Julianne Sitch
MF7 Kelly Parker
MF13 Noelle Keselica 84'
MF14 Collette McCallum 72'
FW15 Katie Hooker
FW16 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

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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