The final four teams standing after WPS ended its regular season were FC Gold Pride in first place, the Boston Breakers in second place, the Philadelphia Independence in third place, and for the second year in a row, the Washington Freedom in fourth place.

In a playoff system that gives home advantage to the top three playoff teams, the Washington Freedom traveled up to Philadelphia to take on the Independence in the First Round. After a stellar job by Ashlyn Harris, who came up with numerous big-time saves throughout 90 minutes, the game stayed scoreless, as the Freedom failed to put a shot on goal. It was off the over time, where the first 15 minutes went by without a goal. It seemed like the game would go on to a penalty kick shoot-out after almost 120 minutes without a goal. Then, just 20 seconds before time was up, Tina DiMartino played the ball into the penalty area, Amy Rodriguez, with her blazing speed, beat two defenders to the ball, and shot it near post, with her left foot past Harris, sending Philly to the Super Semifinal.

The Boston Breakers, who ended as the second seed, were ready to host Philly at the New Harvard Soccer Stadium. The game was off to a fast start. In the 4th minute, Alyssa Naeher came up with a huge save for Boston as she fully extended her body to save a free kick. In the 15th minute, Val Henderson came up with a big save herself tipping away a shot from the Breakers. In the 22nd minute, Kristine Lilly played a ball over to Lauren Cheney who lofted the ball over Henderson and into the goal. Seven minutes later, Philly equalized. Rodriguez and Tina DiMartino combined with two passes, before Rodriguez played the ball the Caroline Seger on the side of the box. Seger then shot the ball to the far post where Naeher could not get to it. This game also went into overtime. Philly once again came out on top, this time with a controversial goal from Danesha Adams. It looked as though Adams had thrown in her forearm as she tried to head the ball the goal at the far post with her momentum going away from the ball. The referee ruled it a goal, and Philly went on to face FC Gold Pride in the final.

Philly made the flight to the West Coast after having played 240 minutes over a week, to face a rested FC Gold Pride team. 5,228 fans at 5,400-seat Pioneer Stadium watched the Pride dominate the Independence and win 4-0 to take the 2010 WPS Championship.

The first goal came in the 17th minute after Henderson made two point-blank saves on Marta, and a third shot from Tiffany Milbrett was saved on the goal line by Nikki Krzysik. A fourth shot from Camile Abily was saved by Henderson, and finally on the fifth try, Christine Sinclair opened up the scoring. The Pride continued to keep possession of the ball while passing it around, making Philly chase after them for most of the game. It wasn’t too long before the Pride scored again. In the 29th minute, Kandace Wilson scored her first goal in WPS, blasting a shot past Henderson.

After halftime, there were no hopes of a comeback from Philly. Eight minutes into the second half, Marta assisted Sinclair on the third goal of the day. Marta ripped through the Philly defense and played the ball to Sinclair who touched the ball to score one of the easiest goals this season. Philly continued to dominate possession, and Philly only managed a few good looks on goal. It was until the final minute, in stoppage time, that Marta would score her first goal in a WPS final (she made the final with the LA Sol last year). Wilson, returning the favor, crossed the ball to Marta, who volleyed it into the goal. The final whistle was blown shortly after and FC Gold Pride was crowned the new WPS Champion.

Post-match Quotes:

Albertin Montoya, FC Gold Pride Head Coach
“I thought it was an excellent performance by us. We went out there and stuck to our game plan. We were worried it might become a more physical battle but we were able to stretch them out and use our outside backs, which resulted in our first two goals. We’ve been waiting all year to put out a performance like that. We created a lot of opportunities, which made us dangerous and our back four were technically sound the entire game.”

Did the fact that Philadelphia looked tired diminish the dominance they showed
“Not at all because we worked so hard all season long to get to this point and that’s the advantage of finishing first. That’s why you play 24 games in a season to get to this point. I think some players mentioned that it doesn’t really matter whether you finish first or fourth. It does. We knew when we went into it that we might be at a little bit of an advantage. That’s why we worked all season long to finish first so we would have that advantage. Unfortunately it didn’t work out that way last year for L.A. But it doesn’t diminish anything because we were the best team for 24 games of the season.”

Marta, FC Gold Pride Forward
“I thought we did everything we were supposed to do. Our training prepared us and made us play the way we did today and this kind of outcome was the one we hoped to get and expected [from our work].”

Christine Sinclair, FC Gold Pride
“For 90 minutes, it was the best game we’ve played all year and we knew coming in to the game that they [Philadelphia] were most likely going to be a little tired after playing two games and traveling, and it was just a matter of meeting their intensity in the first 20 minutes of the game and we were able to do that and it kind of deflated them.”

Kandace Wilson, FC Gold Pride
“I’ve been saying all the season that I’ve been waiting for the championship game to score and I got one today and got an assist. Marta helped me get that goal and I owed her and help her get a goal herself. I ran in front of the crowd and my parents and family were seated all the way at the end so I had to run all the way to the end to celebrate with them. My first goal was to stay healthy and to finish out a whole season and to be WPS Champions, it’s a complete turnaround and it feels so good. I learned a lot last year, on and off the field, just by observing.”

Paul Riley, Philadelphia Independence Head Coach
“Obviously the better team won today, there’s no doubt about that. They were quicker, sharper, better on the ball. We couldn’t contain their forwards or their midfield. And to be honest they were the best team today. We didn’t have a lot fuel left in the tank.”

“Going down two nil at halftime, I didn’t think it was the end of the world, but that third goal kind of killed us. After that they just took over the game. They won the league by 23 points and they’ve beaten us four times, so what else could you say?”

“A-Rod looked tired, the midfield looked tired and then as a coach you have two choices. You freshen your lineup up and go with a little bit less of the players that got you there. Or you go with the players who got you there. That’s what I decided to do and 20 minutes into the game I was second guessing myself I’ll tell you that.”

Lori Lindsey, Philadelphia Independence Midfielder
“I think the better team won today and I think the playoff system got the better of us. We went to two overtime games in less than week and flew cross-country to be here today. Usually, I think we bring a lot of pizzazz and excitement to the game and we just couldn’t bring it today.”

~Alondra Hernandez

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