2010 Women's Professional Soccer season

The 2010 Women's Professional Soccer season was the second season for the WPS, the top level professional women's soccer league in the United States. Regular season champion FC Gold Pride won the WPS Championship on September 26 with a 4-0 victory over the Philadelphia Independence.

Women's Professional Soccer
Season2010
ChampionsFC Gold Pride
Goals scored224
Average goals/game2.20
Top goalscorerMarta (20)
Longest winning run5 Gold Pride (Days 2–6 & 12–16)
Longest unbeaten run12 Gold Pride (Days 12–24)
Longest losing run5 Atlanta Beat (Days 2–6) and Washington Freedom (13–17)
Highest attendance8,261 Washington Freedom v St. Louis Athletica
Lowest attendance2,118 Washington Freedom v Philadelphia Independence
← 2009
2011 →

Changes from the 2009 season
  • Two franchises, based in Philadelphia,[1] and Atlanta,[2] joined the league.
  • A potential Dallas franchise is pending upon finding a site at which to play,[3] and WPS is constantly considering other expansion possibilities as well, such as Seattle.[4]
  • The Los Angeles Sol did not return, as that franchise was terminated January 28, 2010 after Anschutz Entertainment Group returned their franchise rights and a buyer was not found.[5]
  • The number of games in the regular season increased from 20 to 24.
  • On May 27, financial problems caused the Saint Louis Athletica to fold. Players became free agents on June 1.

Competition format and schedule
  • The regular season began on April 10 and ended on September 12 with a bye week on May 22 (the date the USWNT hosted Germany's WNT in a friendly); the playoffs began on September 19 and ended on September 26.
  • Each team played a total of 24 games, evenly divided between home and away games. Under the following format, each team played three other teams four times each, two at home and two away, and the remaining four teams three times each, two at home and one away or one at home and two away.
  • The playoff format was identical to that of the 2009 season. The four teams with the most points from the regular season qualified for the playoffs. The third- and fourth-placed regular season finishers played each other in the single-match First Round, with the winner traveling to face the second-placed regular season finisher in the Super Semifinal midweek. The Super Semifinal winner then traveled to face the first-placed regular season finisher in the WPS Championship.
  • Games played against the Saint Louis Athletica before they folded still counted toward a team's point total.
Abbreviation and Color Key:
Atlanta Beat - ATL • Boston Breakers - BOS • Chicago Red Stars - CHI • FC Gold Pride - BAY
Philadelphia Independence - PHI • Saint Louis Athletica - STL • Sky Blue FC - NJ • Washington Freedom - WSH
Win  • Loss  • Tie  • Home
Club Match
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
Atlanta BeatPHIWSHBAYPHINJWSHCHICHIPHIBAYCHIBOSNJCHIWSHBAYBOSBOSPHIBOSBAYBOSNJWSH
0-03-12-11-00-10-20-01-02-20-41-13-10-11-03-20-02-01-23-12-31-61-30-01-0
Boston BreakersWSHPHISTLCHIWSHBAYNJNJBAYCHIPHIATLWSHBAYCHIWASATLPHINJATLPHIATLBAYNJ
1-21-11-10-20-01-20-01-21-01-21-23-12-11-21-33-12-02-24-02-31-21-32-00-0
Chicago Red StarsNJSTLNJBOSBAYPHIBAYATLWSHATLBOSWSHATLNJATLBOSPHINJBAYPHIWASBAYPHIWAS
1-01-10-10-22-00-11-00-02-21-01-20-01-12-01-01-33-01-20-01-22-02-32-02-1
FC Gold PrideSTLNJATLNJCHIBOSCHIWSHPHIBOSNJATLWASPHIBOSWSHATLCHIWSHCHIATLNJBOSPHI
2-03-12-10-12-01-21-01-11-31-00-20-43-22-01-21-40-00-00-02-31-61-12-04-1
Philadelphia IndependenceATLBOSWSHATLSTLCHIWSHNJBAYNJATLWSHBOSBAYNJCHIWSHBOSCHIATLNJBOSCHIBAY
0-01-13-11-02-10-12-12-11-31-42-23-21-22-04-13-02-02-21-23-21-01-22-04-1
Saint Louis AthleticaBAYCHIBOSWSHPHINJ
2-01-11-13-12-12-2Cancelled
Sky Blue FCCHIBAYCHIBAYATLSTLBOSPHIBOSPHIBAYWSHCHIATLPHICHIATLWASBOSPHIWSHBAYATLBOS
1-03-10-10-10-12-20-02-11-21-40-20-02-00-14-11-21-21-14-01-02-11-10-00-0
Washington FreedomBOSATLPHISTLBOSATLPHIBAYCHIPHICHINJBAYBOSBAYATLBOSPHINJBAYCHINJCHIATL
1-23-13-13-10-00-22-11-12-23-20-00-03-22-11-43-23-12-01-10-02-02-12-11-0

2010 schedule

Standings
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 FC Gold Pride 24 16 5 3 46 19 +27 53 Qualification to the 2010 WPS Championship
2 Boston Breakers 24 10 6 8 36 28 +8 36 Qualification to the 2010 WPS Super Semifinal
3 Philadelphia Independence 24 10 4 10 37 36 +1 34 Qualification for the 2010 WPS First Round Playoff
4 Washington Freedom 24 8 7 9 33 33 0 31
5 Sky Blue FC 24 7 7 10 20 31 −11 28
6 Chicago Red Stars 24 7 6 11 21 27 −6 27
7 Atlanta Beat 24 5 6 13 20 40 −20 21
Source: WPS Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) points, 2) goal difference, 3) head to head result. Source: Soccerway

Playoffs
The Gold Pride pose with the WPS Championship trophy
  First Round Super Semifinal WPS Championship
                           
    1 FC Gold Pride 4
    2 Boston Breakers 1     3 Philadelphia Independence 0
3 Philadelphia Independence 1     3 Philadelphia Independence 2  
4 Washington Freedom 0

WPS Championship
FC Gold Pride4 - 0Philadelphia Independence
Sinclair  16'  53'
Wilson  28'
Marta  90'
Attendance: 5,228
Referee: Jennifer Bennett
FC Gold Pride
Philadelphia Independence
FC Gold Pride:
GK1 Nicole Barnhart
FW9 Kandace Wilson
DF5 Candace Chapman 80'
DF4 Rachel Buehler (c)
DF3 Ali Riley
MF77 Shannon Boxx 75'
MF20 Camille Abily 66'
DF14 Becky Edwards
FW15 Tiffeny Milbrett
FW12 Christine Sinclair
FW10 Marta (MVP)
Substitutions:
MF13 Kristen Graczyk 80'
FW7 Kelley O'Hara 66'
FW11 Kiki Bosio 75'
Manager:
Albertin Montoya
Philadelphia Independence:
GK1 Val Henderson
DF15 Nikki Krzysik
DF3 Allison Falk
DF24 Estelle Johnson
MF26 Holmfridur Magnusdottir
MF6 Lori Lindsey (c) 58'
MF4 Jen Buczkowski
MF9 Caroline Seger 76'
MF25 Tina DiMartino
FW8 Amy Rodriguez
FW10 Lianne Sanderson 64'
Substitutes:
FW19 Danesha Adams 58'
DF2 Heather Mitts 64'
MF16 Lyndsey Patterson 76'
Manager:
Paul Riley

Match officials

  • Assistant referees:
    • Marlene Duffy
    • Veronica Perez
  • Fourth official: Kari Seitz

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.

Leaders

Scoring

Fouls

Goalkeeping

Minimum 60 minutes played per game average

Rank Goalkeeper Club GP MINS SOG SVS GA GAA W-L-T SHO
1 Nicole Barnhart FC Gold Pride 18 1880 92 73 16 0.77 13-3-5 8
2 Jillian Loyden Chicago Red Stars 23 2070 99 72 27 1.17 6-11-6 6
3 Hope Solo Saint Louis Athletica/Atlanta Beat 22 1980 139 104 36 1.64 6-8-8 6

Awards

Player of the Week
Week Player of the Week Club Week's Statline
Week 1 Eniola Aluko Saint Louis Athletica 2 G (40', 62') GWG
Week 2 Abby Wambach Washington Freedom 1 G (44'), 2 A (51', 90') GWA
Week 3 Lori Lindsey Philadelphia Independence 3 A (55', 58', 68') GWA
Week 4 Sonia Bompastor Washington Freedom 1 G (20'), 1 A (47')
Week 5 Karen Bardsley Sky Blue FC 13 SVS, SHO
Week 6 Marta FC Gold Pride 2 G (16', 38'), GWG
Week 7 Kosovare Asllani Chicago Red Stars 1 G (56'), GWG
Week 8 Amy Rodriguez Philadelphia Independence 1 A (3') 1 G (29'), GWG
Week 9 Marta FC Gold Pride 1 A (42') 2 G (55', 90'), GWG
Week 10 Danesha Adams Philadelphia Independence 1 G (5') 1 A (18'), GWA
Week 11 Amy Rodriguez Philadelphia Independence 2 G (62', 72')
Week 12 Marta FC Gold Pride 1 A (1') 2 G (30', 86'), GWA
Week 13 Ella Masar Chicago Red Stars
Week 14 Christine Sinclair FC Gold Pride
Week 15 Caroline Seger Philadelphia Independence
Week 16 Hope Solo Atlanta Beat
Week 17 Kelly Smith Boston Breakers
Week 18 Amy Rodriguez Philadelphia Independence
Week 19 Eniola Aluko Atlanta Beat
Week 20 Abby Wambach Washington Freedom
Week 21 Veronica Boquete Chicago Red Stars

Player of the Month
Month Player of the Month Club Month's Statline
April Lori Lindsey Philadelphia Independence 4 A in 3 games; Independence 1-0-2 in April
May Karen Bardsley Sky Blue FC 31 saves and 2 SO in 4 games; Sky Blue 1-1-2 in May
June Amy Rodriguez Philadelphia Independence 5 G, 2 A in 5 games; Independence 3-1-1 in June
July Jordan Angeli Boston Breakers 4 G, 1 A in 6 games; Breakers 5-1-0 in July

End-of-year awards

WPS announced its end-of-year awards on September 16.[6]

Award Winner Club
Michelle Akers Player of the Year Marta FC Gold Pride
MedImmune Defender of the Year Amy LePeilbet Boston Breakers
Coast Guard Goalkeeper of the Year Nicole Barnhart FC Gold Pride
Rookie of the Year Ali Riley FC Gold Pride
Coach of the Year Paul Riley Philadelphia Independence
Citi Sportswoman of the Year Natalie Spilger Chicago Red Stars
PUMA Golden Boot Marta FC Gold Pride

Statistics

Scoring

Discipline

All-Star Game
Main article: WPS All-Star 2010

WPS All-Star 2010 took place on June 30, a midseason date as opposed to the previous year's postseason All-Star game. It was played at the new Kennesaw State University Soccer Stadium in Kennesaw, Georgia, home to the Atlanta Beat;.[11] The United States Coast Guard once again presented the game, which aired on Fox Soccer Channel again as well.

The all-star selection process was the same as in the previous year, although twice as many players were selected. The top US vote-getter, Abby Wambach, and the top international vote-getter, Marta, then chose between the remaining 20 voted-on players to create their teams, with the 14 at-large selections being distributed by the league. Marta's XI defeated Abby's XI 5–2.

References
  1. "Women's Professional Soccer Finalizes Philadelphia as Eighth WPS Franchise for 2010". WPS. March 23, 2009. Archived from the original on April 25, 2009. Retrieved April 17, 2009.
  2. "Atlanta Beat Announced as Ninth Team in Women's Professional Soccer". WPS. June 18, 2009. Archived from the original on June 25, 2009. Retrieved July 4, 2009.
  3. "Bay Area joins Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) for inaugural season". WPS. September 3, 2008. Archived from the original on July 16, 2011. Retrieved April 17, 2009.
  4. "WPS in Seattle?". bigsoccer.com. December 13, 2009. Retrieved December 17, 2009. See link in first post
  5. "WPS Discontinues Operations of Los Angeles Sol, womensprosoccer.com, 28 January 2010". Archived from the original on June 29, 2010. Retrieved January 29, 2010.
  6. "2010 WPS Year-End Awards Announced" (Press release). Women's Professional Soccer. September 16, 2010. Retrieved September 24, 2010.
  7. "Washington Freedom vs. Boston Breakers". STATS LLC. Archived from the original on April 16, 2010. Retrieved April 12, 2010.
  8. "Philadelphia Independence vs. Sky Blue FC". STATS LLC. Archived from the original on August 6, 2011. Retrieved June 29, 2010.
  9. "Washington Freedom vs. Atlanta Beat". STATS LLC. Archived from the original on April 24, 2010. Retrieved April 19, 2010.
  10. "Boston Breakers vs. Philadelphia Independence". STATS LLC. Archived from the original on August 4, 2011. Retrieved April 19, 2010.
  11. Ellis, Ralph (April 15, 2010). "KSU hopes to raise profile with new soccer stadium". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Archived from the original on April 17, 2010. Retrieved April 25, 2010.
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