I don't know where Atlanta plays, but the field and facilities of Charlotte Christian are typical high-dollar Charlotte private school facilities, nice permanent stands, adequate parking and a decent synthetic turf field.
Vancouver beats Santa Clarita, 4-3, in a thriller to advance. They did lose Lexi Marton to a red card though in the second half and will be missing her for the semi-finals. Unless I'm missing something the semi-finals will be: -Ottawa vs Seattle -Atlanta vs Vancouver
Yeah, just checked the W-League website which said Ottawa v Seattle, so that's correct. Also, don't know if it's been mentioned but FSC will be showing the Championship match on Aug 1st.
Whitecaps were incredibly lucky to pull that game out. If it had gone to extra time I wouldn't have fancied their chances down to 10 men and missing both starting center backs. If they had lost people would have wondered why the coach took out Martina Franko so early, just before Santa Clarita scored two quick goals.
Game report said that Franko was injured in the 51st minute. This is going to be a problem if she can't play in the next game. Whitecaps are down to their no. 3 goalkeeper, basically. McNulty hasn't played all season and there's a report Kristen Funk, the starter at the beginning of the season, is injured. McNulty was apparently the back-up last night. Dunnett has been good for one free goal to the other team in the last two games. I think that Toronto and Quebec are probably at about the same level as they were last year (just from looking at the rosters). Therefore Ottawa has really improved. (Noticed that Christina Julien scored twice for Ottawa on Sunday. It's a sad reminder of the difference between Quebec and France.)
Well at least Atlanta has company in the injured keeper sweepstakes. Baker was out for both playoff games last week. Hopefully she'll be back for the Final Four. Santa Clarita was missing Edite Fernandes the last couple games. Really hurt them.
Sounders Women face unbeaten Ottawa Fury tonight in semis at Starfire http://goalwa.wordpress.com/2011/07...n-ottawa-fury-tonight-in-w-league-semifinals/
The final is on FSC (delayed until Monday evening). So far I don't see the semis being shown or streamed anywhere.
If anyone is travelling for this I'll buy them a beer though. Mad Pizza pre or post match, not beer garden during the game. Ask around, a few people will know who I am. Black polo and black shorts. (EDIT) I mean at the Sounders women vs. Ottawa match tonight.
Whitecaps 1 Atlanta 1 still early in the first half. Goals by Tomlinson and Weimer. Weimer is playing forward and Leroux is midfielder. No webcast but twittering from whitecapsfc, uslwleague and LexiMarton.
The host Seattle Sounders put up a battle but can't overcome the Ottawa Fury (who played with ten from 79' on) and fall, 3-2. So it's Ottawa and Atlanta in the final. The Silverbacks have made it this far once before, in 2007 when they lost to the Washington Freedom, 3-1, in the final. Ottawa made it the two previous years, losing to the New Jersey Wildcats in 2005 and the Vancouver Whitecaps in 2006, both times by a score of 3-0 (though to be fair the host team won on both occasions). Either way, we will have a first-time W-League champion on Sunday.
Our Photos and league recaps: http://goalwa.wordpress.com/2011/07...as-sounders-women-fall-in-championship-semis/
I know I'm tempting fate, but... Ottawa is being exposed in a bad way. Down 3-0 short of halftime and down to 10 after Wetzel sent off.
Silverbacks win, 6-1! Unbelievable effort from a franchise that's had its fair share of postseason heartache in the past.
And Silverbacks fans would like to note that Ottawa had three of the top individual award winners (and three players on the all-league team), while Atlanta didn't even have any nominees in any category and just one player on the all-league team, Megan Tomlinson, who scored four goals over the course of the weekend.
By the way, there are Whitecaps videos of their two games (I hesitate to call them game highlights since they only show one team's goals) on www.whitecapsfc.com/videos
Usually it has to do with some minor roster hanky-panky. In the Silverbacks' case, they used seven substitutes in a game when the rules only allow six: http://www.atlantasilverbacks.com/wleague/index.php?id=24&newsid=95