The 2009 WPS Playoffs were the postseason to Women's Professional Soccer's 2009 Season, that started on August 15 and culminated on August 22 at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California.
Format The top four WPS teams, based on their regular season finishes, qualified for the playoffs. In the First Round, the third-ranked team hosted the fourth-ranked team. The winner of that match advances to the Super Semifinal, where they traveled to the second-ranked team. Finally, the regular season first-ranked team hosted the winner of the Super Semifinal in the WPS Championship match.
This format, fairly unusual in the American sports landscape, preserves the knockout-style postseason most American sports fans are familiar with, while also highly favoring the regular season first-ranked team.
Standings PlaceTeamGPWLTGFGAGDPoints1Los Angeles Sol2012352710 +17412Saint Louis Athletica2010641915 +4333Washington Freedom208753232 0294Sky Blue FC207851920 -1265Boston Breakers207941820 -2256Chicago Red Stars2051051825 -7207FC Gold Pride2041061728 -1118
Bracket
Results
First round
Super Semifinal
WPS Championship
LOS ANGELES SOL: GK 23 Karina LeBlancDF 22 Manya MakoskiDF 11 Brittany Bock DF 3 Allison Falk DF 14 Stephanie CoxMF 6 McCall Zerboni MF 4 Aly Wagner MF 7 Shannon Boxx (c)MF 8 Aya MiyamaFW 10 MartaFW 9 Han Duan Substitutes:GK 1 Val HendersonDF 2 Keri SanchezDF 19 Sharolta Nonen DF 21 Johanna FriskMF 17 Liz BogusMF 18 Katie Larkin FW 16 Lyndsey Patterson Manager: Abner RogersSKY BLUE FC: GK 23 Jenni BranamDF 17 Keeley DowlingDF 4 Jen BuczkowskiDF 3 Christie Rampone (c)DF 12 Meghan SchnurMF 20 Kacey WhiteMF 10 Yael AverbuchMF 24 FrancielleFW 9 Heather O'Reilly (MVP) FW 11 Rosana FW 6 Natasha Kai Substitutes:GK 22 Cori AlexanderDF 38 Julianne SitchMF 7 Kelly ParkerMF 13 Noelle Keselica MF 14 Collette McCallum FW 15 Katie HookerFW 16 Kerri Hanks Manager: Christie Rampone MATCH OFFICIALS Assistant referees: Marlene Duffy Veronica Perez Fourth official: Margaret DomkaMATCH RULES 90 minutes. 30 minutes of extra-time if necessary. Penalty shoot-out if scores still level. Seven named substitutes. Maximum of three substitutions.
Media coverage Both the First Round and the WPS Championship was viewable on Fox Sports Network, while the Super Semifinal was on Fox Soccer Channel. Also, all three matches were webcast on the WPS website.
Notes and references
See also 2009 Women's Professional Soccer season Women's Professional Soccer