2009 Washington Freedom W-League Thread [R]

The Freedom went on the road this afternoon to face the New York Magic and won comfortably, 4-0. The Freedom are now in first place in the Northeast Division (and third in the league in total points), but only because they've played one more match than the Quickstrike Lady Blues.

They go on the road against next Saturday to play the New Jersey Wildcats before returning home the following Thursday for a key matchup against the aforementioned Lady Blues.

They then conclude their season that weekend with a home game each day.

 

The Freedom finished up their road schedule with a comfortable 3-0 win over the New Jersey Wildcats. They have three games left, all at the Soccerplex, with the key one being the Thursday night match, the winner of which will claim the division.

Incidentally, the Freedom are the second highest-scoring team in the W-League this year, behind only FC Indiana.

 

Jenn Parsons scored twice against the Wildcats, Caitlin Miskel once.

The big news, though, is that with the Ottawa Fury losing today, the Freedom have the W-League regular season championship within their grasp. This is a huge deal: the regular-season champion gets to skip the conference playoffs and go straight into the "final four" championship tournament as the #1 seed. All they need to do is win their last three games, all of which take place at the Soccerplex.

The bad news is that, as discussed above, their next opponent is the only team to defeat them this year, the Hudson Valley Quickstrike Lady Blues, who likewise would claim the regular-season championship if they win out (or even tie the Freedom). So Thursday night's match is hugely significant.

 

Freedom tie regular-season champions at the Soccerplex

The Freedom had to do two things this evening to claim the regular-season championship: score a goal and prevent the Lady Blues from doing likewise. Unfortunately, they only managed one of these as the game ended in a 0-0 tie. This kept Hudson Valley in first place while dropping the Freedom from second to third.

The game was a very defensive one. If it had been a hockey match, most of it would have taken place between the blue lines. The back lines for both teams were very strong and let few opportunities through. Though the Freedom controlled most of the possession, they had little to show for it. Even when they got close, they seemed a little too patient, with the ball being passed around and, as in the 19th minute, only resulting in a long (20-yard) shot from captain Jenn Parsons that went to the goalkeeper.

The only other good chance of the first half came in the 37th minute as Mara Osher did a good job of trapping a long ball, but her 20-yard shot went wide right.

Hudson Valley showed some signs of life late in the first half, with their best chance being a near-breakaway on a ball over the top, but Freedom keeper Chante Sandiford managed to corral the ball before the forward arrived.

In the second half, the best chance of the match might have been in the 64th minute, as Blues keeper Erin McNulty had difficulty corraling a long ball from the Freedom that fell just outside the box. She kicked it into the box, but Jenn Parsons was on her before she could grab it. Jenn almost got way with it, but Erin finally managed to grab it and hang on.

The Hudson Valley players started showing signs of tiring at about that point, not surprising since they’d played a game the previous evening and then spent the day riding the bus down from New York. It was just a question of whether they could hold off the increasingly dangerous-lookingFreedom attack until the final whistle blew.

In the 70th minute, Lady Blue Kristen Edmonds, who’d been doing yeoman defensive work on the left flank, went down with an injury, which stopped play for several minutes. This seemed to allow the other players to get their second wind. The best remaining chance for the Freedom was a Jenn Parsons possession in the box over toward the left in the 86th minute. She danced around trying to find an opening, but her shot went straight to the goalkeeper.

As time was winding down, the Freedom gave up on any semblance of an organized attack and just sent hopeful balls into the attacking zone, balls Hudson Valley could easily collect and clear. The result was apparent minutes before the final whistle.

 

The Freedom ended their 2009 regular season on a high note, with a 4-0 defeat of the Connecticut Passion on Saturday, and a 7-0 shellacking of the Long Island Rough Riders on Sunday. Scoring notes:

Parsons: goal, assist vs. Passion; goal, assist vs. Rough Riders
Lenzyck: 2 goals vs. Passion, goal vs. Rough Riders
Menchel: assist vs. Passion, 2 goals vs. Rough Riders
Miskel: goal vs. Passion, PK goal vs. Rough Riders
Germaine: goal, assist vs. Rough Riders
Watson: goal vs. Rough Riders
Osher: assist vs. Passion
Matute: assist vs. Rough Riders
Grant: assist vs. Rough Riders

With the wins and with the Hudson Valley Quickstrike Lady Blues claiming the regular season championship, the Freedom are the top seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs, which as a result should be held at the Soccerplex next weekend. If so, I will post the details here.

As an additional note, the Freedom averaged 3.5 goals per game, the second-highest in the league, behind only the professional FC Indiana, who surged ahead on the strength of 12-0 and 9-0 clobberings of the weakest team in their division.

 

Yep: http://www.atlantasilverbacks.com/news/displaynews.php?id=1115&cat=1

Well, that's a pisser. I was really looking forward to the Freedom hosting a playoff match for the first time ever.


(In terms of attendance, though, it's probably a wise decision as the WPS Freedom team has siphoned away almost all of the interest in the W-League team. Last year a game like the one with Hudson Valley would have had a thousand or more people show up. This year it was more like 50, and almost all of those were relatives of the players.)

 

From another thread:

 

Washington over Charlotte, 2-1. Comeback win for the Freedom: Swinehart scored for the Lady Eagles in the 25th minutes, then Lenzyck (76) and Tegeler (85) scored for the Freedom.

The Freedom are into the W-League Final Four with this result and will be either the #2 or #3 seed. They will play the winner of the FC Indiana Lionesses - Ottawa Fury match as the winner of the other match (Pali Blues - Colorado Force) will be the #4 seed regardless and will play Hudson Valley. If FC Indiana wins, they will be the #2 seed and host the game. If Ottawa wins, they will be the #3 seed, while Washington, as the #2 seed, should have the right to host the match. But then we had the right to host the Eastern Conference playoffs, too, and that didn't happen, so I don't know how this will turn out.

 

It would be nice to get some fans to show up. I went to the Hudson Valley match, and there can't have been more than fifty people there, most of whom were parents or relatives of the players.

 

Official USL announcement

If both we and the Pali Blues win, then we would host the final as well.

 

W-League Conference Teams Unveiled

Team captain and midfielder Jenn Parsons and forward Brittany Tegeler were named to the Eastern All-Conference team. Jenn is sixth in the league in goals scored and fourth in points. Brittany is tied for eleventh in points and for seventh in assists.

 

Freedom win first playoff home game ever

The Freedom emerged victorious in the first home playoff match in team history, but it was a tight scoreless battle, culminating in a penalty kick shootout that Washington won, 3-1, on the strength of two Chante Sandiford saves.

It was not a promising start for the home side, as Ottawa dominated possession early on and injuries knocked two of the Freedom starters out in the first half: left flank defender Mara Osher in the 20th minute and Eastern Conference All-Star forward Brittany Tegeler in the 42nd. The Freedom had a couple of chances on counterattacks, most notably Tegeler getting in one-on-one with the goalkeeper in the 16th minute, but her shot went to goalkeeper Jasmine Phillips. Meanwhile, the Fury’s possession was matched by a tenacious Freedom defense that gave up several corner kicks but few dangerous ones, the most being a shot in the 33rd minute that Sandiford knocked over the bar for a corner kick. Another one was briefly scary as Sandiford dove for a ball in the box in the middle of a crowd but missed, but a Freedom defender managed to clear it before Ottawa could get a shot at the open net.

The roles were reversed in the second half, as the Freedom took over possession but could get few good shots off, while Ottawa’s counters proved dangerous, none more than speedy Emma Kete getting behind the defense in the 55th minute, but Chante made a huge diving save to maintain the clean sheet. The best moment for the Freedom might have been a series of beautiful one-touch passes in the 69th minute that brought the ball quickly down the right flank to Jenn Parsons. The Ottawa defense knocked the ball out for a throwin deep in their own territory. The throwin led to a cross and a Sandra Matute header than went just wide left.

With about ten minutes left in regulation, the Freedom started getting sloppy. A turnover in their own end in the 80th minute led to an Ottawa forward bearing down on a ball in the box, but Sandiford got there in the nick of time. Surprisingly, in the 90th minute captain and leading scorer Jenn Parsons was subbed out in the 90th minute, to be replaced by Katie Watson. The whistle marking the end of regulation blew shortly thereafter.

In the first 15-minute overtime, each team had two respectable chances. In the third minute, the Fury had a close-in free kick that resulted in a corner kick, but that was cleared. Then the Freedom had a good buildup, but the shot went wide. In the 12th minute, Ottawa sent in a good service that was cleared for a corner kick that again was quickly cleared. The Freedom followed with a dangerous-looking 2-on-2 break, but it was thwarted without a shot.

The Freedom mounted some pressure in the second overtime but had little to show for it. Both teams got free kicks deep, Ottawa in the 19th minute of overtime that was cleared, and Washington in the 25th minute that was snagged by the keeper.

Overtime ended with the game still scoreless, and it was time for penalty kicks. I was pretty confident at this point, as Freedom goalkeeper Chante Sandiford physically resembles a young Briana Scurry, while the Fury’s Jasmine Phillips looked more like Kristin Luckenbill after an all-you-can-eat buffer. My confidence was not misplaced, as Sandiford took over.

Ottawa’s Hayley Moorwood took the first kick and sent it authoritatively into the upper right netting, but Sandra Matute matched with a similar shot. But that was it for Ottawa. Ria Percival sent a shot off the left post, but if it had been on target, Chante would have had it. Kika Toulouse made hers to give the Freedom a 2-1 lead. Courtney Wetzel aimed a shot to the right, but Chante was there to block it, then Caitlin Miskel slid a ball into the lower left corner to give the Freedom a 3-1 lead. Michelle Evans had to score to keep the Fury alive, but her shot to the left was blocked by Sandiford to give the Freedom the win and a pass to the final next Friday at 7:30, at the Maryland Soccerplex.

 

- http://www.uslsoccer.com/home/353529.html

 

If it were brought back at the same scale as before (national team players on both the home and visiting teams' rosters), I think you'd pick up right where they left off, with 3k-4k attendance per match.

If you're going to set up a W-League/WPSL team and call it the Freedom, you'll be where the Freedom was in 2007 and 2008 (when they were a W-League team) and the DC United Women the last couple of years, with good attendance by W-League standards (hundreds to a thousand per match) but definitely not the same level of interest as a pro team would garner.