http://wleague.uslsoccer.com/home/343036.html Big weekend coming up for Lightning, Chicago visits Wed, both teams are playing for 2nd place behind FCI. Ctown beat Lightning 2 weeks ago, so there will be some payback on the line for Lightning.
Currently, the Minnesota Lightning are in third place in their division and still have a viable chance at qualifying for the playoffs. The circumstances necessary for the Minnesota Lightning to qualify for the United Soccer Leagues W-League playoffs this year are complicated and confusing. The Lightning will need other teams to drop points and likely hope that at least one of their division leaders picks up points in the last weeks of the regular season. This article explains the W-League playoff structure and how the Lightning can qualify. A background on the structure of the W-League is helpful to aid in the understanding of the playoffs. The W-League is split into three conferences including the Central Conference, the Eastern Conference, and the Western Conference. The Central and Eastern Conferences are each split into two divisions. The Central Conference includes the Great Lakes Division and the Midwest Division. The Eastern Conference includes the Atlantic Division and the Northeast Division. The Western Conference is not split into divisions. During the season, each team plays every other team in their division twice (and so does every team in the Western conference). Depending on the number of teams in the each division, the teams will play a twelve or fourteen game season. The league Regular Season Champion is determined as the team with the top points percentage, i.e., the team with the highest ratio of points earned to possible points, rather than total points. The Regular Season Champion and eleven other teams will make the playoffs. The league champion automatically advances to the playoff semi-finals. The eleven other teams that make the playoffs will include the remaining top two teams from each division and the Western Conference as well as the remaining third highest team from the Great Lakes Division. The other eleven teams will play for their respective conference championships in order to advance to the semifinals. The three conference champions and the Regular Season Champion will be seeded for the last two rounds to determine the League Champion. Because the Regular Season Champion automatically advances to the semifinals, the division including the Regular Season Champion will also place their next highest team to fill out the remaining spot amongst the eleven other teams in the playoffs. For example, if the Regular Season Champion were from the Midwest Division, the second and third place teams would qualify for the two playoffs in the Midwest Division. If the Regular Season Champion were from the Great Lakes Division, where the top three teams make the playoffs, the second through fourth teams would qualify along with the top two teams from the other divisions and the Western Conference. The Lightning will finish third place in the division behind the Chicago Red Eleven and FC Indiana regardless of the outcome of the remaining games. As the third place team, they can only qualify if the league champion is from their division. Thus, if one of Chicago or Indiana becomes the league champion based on points percentage, that team will automatically advance to the semifinals and the Lightning will finish in the remaining top two teams with the second place finisher in the Midwest division. So, what are the Lightning’s chances of qualifying? Both Chicago and Indiana remain in the race for Regular Season Champion but will need other teams to drop points. Chicago has 28 points with one game left to play, and Indiana has 26 points with two games left to play. Thus, Chicago could finish with 31 points and a maximum points percentage as high as 0.861, and Indiana could finish with 32 points and a maximum points percentage as high as 0.889. Chicago plays Fort Wayne on Saturday. Indiana plays Fort Wayne on Tuesday and West Michigan on Sunday. If Chicago wins their last game, only three teams other than Indiana could finish with a higher points percentage than Chicago. The Ottawa Fury, currently in second in the Great Lakes division, has 28 points from 11 games and 3 games to play. If Ottawa wins their remaining games, they will finish with a points percentage of 0.881, which is higher than Chicago’s maximum points percentage but less Indiana’s maximum. The Hudson Valley Quickstrike Lady Blues or the Washington Freedom, both from the Northeast Division, are also in the race to become the Regular Season Champion. Hudson Valley has 31 points from 11 games with 3 games left to play, and they could finish with a points percentage of 0.952. Washington has 30 points from 11 games with 3 games left to play, and they could finish with a points percentage of 0.929. If, on the other hand, Indiana wins their last two games, only Hudson Valley and Washington can prevent the Lightning from entering the playoffs. But Hudson Valley and Washington must each suffer a bit of bad luck in their remaining games for the Lightning to qualify. Hudson Valley must drop at least 3 points from their remaining 3 games and Washington must drop at least 2 points in their remaining 3 games for the Lightning to qualify. Hudson Valley and Washington play each other in Maryland on July 16, and at least one team will drop points. The Lightning will need more help if Chicago wins the Midwest division. In this case, the Lightning will only qualify for the playoffs if Chicago wins their last game and if each of Ottawa drops at least 1 point, Hudson Valley drops at least 4 points, and Washington drops at least 3 points. These are just a few examples of what could happen in the remaining games of the regular season. Much still needs to be determined before the Lightning can qualify. The Lightning still have a good chance of making the playoffs this year, their first time back since 2007.
I've got a list of the contenders for the regular-season championship and their current point percentage here. FC Indiana is currently in third place with Hudson Valley and Washington 1-2, though with those teams playing each other on Thursday, one of them will drop to put FCI into second. For FCI to claim first, the winner of that match needs to falter in the home stretch.
Not good, but then I thought the same thing about the 9-0-1 (formerly) Ottawa Fury losing to a 3-4-4 team before this past weekend. The most probable scenario might be for the Freedom to beat the Lady Blues (who have a game the previous evening and then have to take a five-hour bus ride down to our area), but then to get overconfident and lose to (or tie) the 6-6-1 Long Island Rough Riders on Sunday.
Came back from Macalester College game where I heard some parents speculating that the Lightning will not field a team next season. Region II, can you shed some light on this?
Iv heard this as well this past season. They even told the girls that there might not be a team?? Im thinking $ might be the problem, the club is running the Thunder 1st Division, new PDL team, the Lightning and also the Thunder Youth Club. I cant confirm anything thou, and Im not sure when the FO will shed more light on this or not?? Its really too bad if they do not come back. They are a fun group to watch and the Thunder FO did a good job with the team. If Lightning doesnt come back, I would think the dedicated players might go over to Chicago for trails.
i talked with one of the parents and it is true, the lightning will not be back. very disappointing for the players who in the past four years gave their all.