The W-League regular season came to a close this weekend for the league’s 14th campaign with races for playoff berths at the center of attention.
On Friday, the expansion Pali Blues became the first team in the west to win the W-League regular season title, finishing perfect at 12-0-0 with a 3-1 win at Los Angeles on goals from Kendall Fletcher and Liz Bogus for a two goal lead early. Pali's victory also clinched a playoff berth for Vancouver, who would go on to deny Real Colorado’s bid to advance with a 2-1 defeat of the visiting Cougars on Sunday. Real Colorado’s loss allowed longtime Vancouver rival Seattle to join the postseason.
Minnesota's 4-2 loss in Cleveland Friday secured Chicago a spot in the postseason after the Gaels had fallen 3-0 at FC Indiana the night before that wrapped up the Lionesses season with an unbeaten 13-0-1 record. Veronica Phewa came off the bench to score twice in the final minutes to secure the victory.
On Saturday, the Laval Comets completed the Central Conference playoff field with a resounding 6-1 win in Rochester. Melissa Busque scored twice for the visitors, who were initially behind in the match. Ottawa and Toronto were both victorious, sending the Northern Division title race to the final day. The Fury dominated Vermont 8-0 with Jodie Taylor netting three and Toronto downed Hamilton 4-1 with goals from four players. Taylor added three more on Sunday in a 3-0 win at Western Mass and Josee Busilacchi brought her assist total to four for the weekend as Laval won 4-2 at Hamilton. Toronto, meanwhile, fell 2-1 at Rochester.
Wednesday’s action in the Northeast set up the scenarios for the weekend as Long Island fell 1-0 at Washington on a strike from Christie Welsh in the 89th minute and Boston was surprised 2-1 in Connecticut by a pair of goals from Fortuna Velaj. On Saturday, Washington played the Renegades to a 1-1 draw in Boston to clinch the division title in the Northeast for the defending league champions. On Sunday, the Rough Riders downed New Jersey 5-0 on three goals from Kerri McCabe to not only advance to the W-League postseason, but move into second in the division ahead of Boston.
Atlanta joined Pali and FC Indiana as unbeatens for the regular season by downing West Virginia 4-1 in their finale Saturday. After falling behind to the visitors, Stephanie Smith set up three straight goals in the final three minutes of the first half to take control of the match.
