WPS Weekly Update
Women’s Professional Soccer announced this past Thursday that St. Louis has been selected to host the inaugural WPS All-Star Game at the end of August. The league will use a unique format for the game, selecting an All-Star team of eighteen WPS players to compete against an international club team. Eleven WPS players will be selected by the votes of fans, coaches, players, and media, while another seven players will be at-large selections by the WPS Commissioner and All-Star Head Coach. The coach will be chosen collectively by the players and announced in July. The inaugural All-Star Game will be played and nationally televised on August 30, just eight days after the WPS Championship.
In other league news, the Sol became the first team to clinch a playoff spot with their two solid wins this past week. After defeating St. Louis Athletica in a 2-1 battle on Wednesday, the Sol returned to their home turf where they remain unbeaten to handily defeat the Chicago Red Stars 4-0 on Sunday. The Red Stars have been on a scoring drought and have now gone a record 403 minutes without putting the ball in the back of the net.
The second, third, and fourth place teams are separated by only one point and continue to battle for playoff berths. The Boston Breakers captured the second place spot with an important 1-0 win over the Washington Freedom this past Wednesday. Christine Latham’s 37th minute header gave the Breakers a one goal lead they were able to hold onto until the final whistle. In addition to moving Boston into second place, the win also gave the Breakers the overall series win against Washington (currently 2-0-1) with one more match to be played between the two teams at the end of July.
St. Louis Athletica’s 2-1 victory over Sky Blue FC Sunday night moved them into third place with 17 points. After St. Louis scored in the first two minutes of the game, NJ managed to come back and tie it before Weber’s 84th minute goal clinched the game for Athletica. The win moves St. Louis back to .500 on the season with a 5-5-2 record, and drops Sky Blue to a tie for fifth place.
Reply