Surprisingly, after Hudson Valley's tie with Boston on Wednesday, there are only two W-League teams left with perfect records: Ottawa and Atlanta.
What happened during the Force Pali game last weekend. I read that a Colorado player threw Nikki Washington down and kicked her? Or was that embellished a bit?
Looking at the box score, I don't see any cards or even Washington on the roster, so I'm inclined to think embellishment.
I think the previous game was meant, against Real Colorado: http://www.uslsoccer.com/stats/2009/1026095.html This game was described by Ella Stephan on the FSU thread.
I've said it elsewhere in this forum, but I don't see anyone but the Blues taking the title this year. I went to the game this weekend and not only is Tobin Heath finishing like Marta these days, but the crowd is really into it in a way that the rest of the W-League can't compete with. Luckily for those other squads, the finals will obviously played a sight other than the Stadium by the Sea, but don't put it past those lads from Pali's supporters group -- the Tony Danza Army -- to travel for the final.
I'm wondering where the championship is going to be held this year. It's only a few weeks away, and they haven't announced the host yet.
Blues to go far but how far? As the season approaches its climax the Blues have finally started to play the passing game. With all the additions to the team and late arrivals from the Pac 10 it has taken a while. Now the departures begin, first Heath and Chaney heading off to a National Team Camp and then the College players will start to disappear. In the meantime the fun continues. The two departures this week will open up greater opportunities for Kiwi Yallop who has played well when given the chance. Stanford's Ohara and Press along with UNC's Washington and Mexican International Mora will provide plenty of offensive power and speed. And since home town Palisadian Ali Riley was moved center back, the opposition has yet to score. Go Blues!
Many thanks for the updates on KY and Ali, WhatsBruin. Very interesting re Ali's position. We've only ever used her as a left flank player or an overlapping fullback for NZ, so I'll pass this info on to the gaffer - I'm sure he'll be interested. Cheers, JR
whoa, whoa, whoa. in '05, the NJ Wildcats college players didn't go anywhere till AFTER they finished the W-League season. Just pointing that out. What's going to be REALLY interesting is the UNC game on August 22nd... vs UCLA. Tobin, Nikki, Whitney, and Ashlyn vs Kara and Cheney. Hmm...
That's a blanket statement. Teams only play within their division all year, so none of us can justifiably make these statements. If I were looking to make one, I would say that nobody could compete with the Hudson Valley crowds, which ended the regular season tonight on a season-high 2,203 fans and got noise complaints from neighborhoods over a mile away. That I kid you not. Talk to anyone who has been there within the Northeast Division. Not necessarily saying that crowd is better, because that just wouldn't be fair.
No, what's not fair is that you're assuming that I have no idea comparatively what other crowds look, feel, and sound like. Let's just say I'm a women's soccer connoisseur. The league has gotten a whiff of these guys I'm sure and the buzz has been created around the USL offices. These guys are on blogs from here to Timbuktu and if they don't put the final on the west coast it'll be a shame. From a marketing perspective, they need to grow the brand out there more than anywhere else in the country. And, if the game gets put on FSC, all the more reason to showcase a passionate group of fans as a reason to come out to games.
The above post was dated 14 May, soon after which Ottawa added NZ captain Hayley Moorwood, followed a wee bit later by Emma Kete. Great to see my dream final is still on the cards over ten weeks later. Can't beat Kiwi Power!
Congrats to the Pali Blues for their second straight W-League title. They were clearly the better team this evening, though both teams were missing many of their key players. My compliments also to the Blues goalkeeper, who went to help one of our players who went down in the Blues penalty area with a cramp. That was very classy.
Agree. And I have so much respect for the Washington Freedom organization. They do it right. Freedom are the closest resemblence to clubs around the world by building a franchise and talent from the the youth levels on up.
It's unfortunate that almost the entire crowd was on the non-camera side, as most watching on TV think that nobody was there. The crowd was alright though. You would hope for better at the final, though. I'm not sure how much Saturday's Sky Blue-Freedom game affected tonight, though. Freedom folks said a lot of season ticket holders stuck around for the game. What do you think star city? Match report:http://equalizersoccer.com/WebPages/news/newsDetails.aspx?nId=dd9efb04-9abb-4304-bf73-cf335b2202c2
I deliberately sat on the far side for the first half so I could be on TV. The crowd was disappointing, to be sure. We had more people at the semifinal match, and loads more people at even routine regular-season matches back when the W-League was the only game in town. A lot of the season ticket holders stuck around, though a bunch left at halftime. Ditto for the Freedom players, and even some Sky Blue players were there. I think the lack of attendance was partially that it was on a weeknight and partially that the WPS Freedom have a key matchup coming up. Only we soccer fanatics are going to drive out to the Soccerplex twice on consecutive evenings - once in rush hour traffic - to catch a match. Given the choice, most fans will take the WPS match. We might have gotten some more if they'd put it on a weekend evening when the Freedom were on the road.
It's a shame that the USL title match drew so few. Now, there have been numerous situations where professional clubs and their top feeder team have been in the same market -- Philadelphia Flyers/Philadelphia Phantoms, and New York Yankees/Newark Bears, for example. Of course, when it comes to people who put fannies in the seats, neither team had national-team players like Lauren Cheney, Kara Lang, and Christine Nairn last night, and that certainly hurt.