Wednesday, July 28, 2004

 

TAMPA, FL -- At the close of the W-League divisional playoffs Wednesday night, the lone top-seeded team not to advance was the defending champion Hampton Roads Piranhas, who fell 2-0 to the Charlotte Lady Eagles in the Atlantic Division final.

Nkiru Okosieme and Ashley Swinehart scored for Charlotte, earning the 2-0 victory and advancing to the Central Conference Championship, where they will face the unbeaten Cobras in Chicago.

Charlotte and Hampton Roads played another high-paced energetic match with strong defense and quality scoring chances on both ends. Hampton Roads nearly took the early lead just three minutes into the match with a shot from Lindsey Vanderspiegel, whose shot hit the right post and deflected out of play. 

Okosieme scored the first goal of the match in the 19th minute.  Christy Timbers set up the goal from the midfield, working the ball down into Piranhas territory with a 1-2 pass with Dutch Women's National Team captain Annamieke Griffioen.  Timbers served a low, hard cross to Okosieme just outside the six yard box. Okosieme controlled, and fired a shot just under the dive of Hampton Roads goalkeeper Cindy Bennett. 

The second half was much like the first with end-to-end action. Ashley Swinehart scored her ninth goal of the season in the 63rd minute, extending the Charlotte lead to 2-0.  The play started with Paige Ledford, winning the ball at midfield.  Timbers received the ball and played it back to Ledford down in the left corner.  Ledford served the ball in to Tina Murphy inside the 18 yard box.  Murphy then hit a square ball to Ashley Swinehart running on.  Swinehart's low shot went just outside the reach of Bennett for the gaol. 

Hampton Roads had another close attempt, hitting the post with about 15 minutes remaining, but couldn't find the back of the net. 

Shannon O'Brien was perfect in goal for Charlotte earning nine saves and Cindy Bennett had six saves for Hampton Roads. 

The 12-0-1 Cobras earned a 3-2 win over division rival Fort Wayne, the lone team to deny Chicago a win on the season, in the Midwest Division Championship.

Chicago forward Kristen Graczyk scored twice to give Chicago an 2-0 lead, finding the target in the 21st on an assist from Elizabeth Bogus and in the 41st on an assist from recently acquired Julie Augustyniak.

Just before the break however, Fort Wayne’s Amanda Cinalli answered back with a goal in the 45th on an assist from Jill Krivacek.

Katy Lindenmuth put the lead back to two in the 67th minute on an unassisted strike that proved to be the game-winner as Mary Boland’s penalty kick conversion in the 85th was not enough to catch the Cobras. 

The most eye-opening result of the two division finals in the Eastern Conference was Long Island’s 1-0 overtime win over the New Jersey Lady Stallions.

The Lady Riders debuted 16-year old goalkeeper Kristen Farriella with the start in the Northeast Division Championship. The young keeper showed well with seven saves, recording just the third shutout by a goalkeeper on the season for the club, which has five team shutouts.

Fourteen minutes into the first overtime of the scoreless match, Allison Mullen found Melissa Shulman for the game-winning header to move the Lady Riders onto the Eastern Conference semifinals.

The Montreal Xtreme relied on some unfamiliar scorers to move past the Rochester Ravens in the North Central Division Championship, 3-0.

Defender Isabelle Morneau notched a goal and an assist, finding the back of the net in the final minute of the first half for the opening marker and connecting with midfielder Maria Lapalme, who scored her fifth goal of the year six minutes into the second stanza.

Defender Sharolta Nonen, in her third game with the team, found midfielder Erin Holland on a corner kick to put the game away in the 81st with a header.

On Tuesday, the two-time champion Boston Renegades slipped past the Western Mass Lady Pioneers, 1-0, on a goal from Meghan Welcome in the 104th minute. Kara Frederick set up the overtime winner and Ashley Phillips recorded two saves in the shutout as Boston won the New England Division.

Central Conference
The Chicago Cobras will play host to the Charlotte Lady Eagles Sunday, August 1 at 2:00 pm ET at Mooseheart Stadium. Charlotte was the team to end Hampton Roads’ 23-game unbeaten streak July 9, the Piranhas’ only loss entering the playoffs. Chicago is currently ended the season on a 19-game regular season unbeaten streak (17-0-2) with their only loss in the last 24 games coming at the hands of the Piranhas, 1-0 in overtime, in the W-League Championship last year. The Cobras topped Charlotte 3-1 in the conference final last year in Chicago with goals from Julianne Sitch, Patrice Feulner and Holly Greene. Sitch is the only one of the three still with the team, but has seen limited action (three goals, one assist in five games) after finishing second to Graczyk on the team in scoring last year. Tina Murphy scored the lone Charlotte goal.

Eastern Conference
The regular season W-League champion New Jersey Wildcats will play host to the four-team event. They take on the Renegades in the second semifinal Saturday with Long Island and Montreal squaring off for the second time in a week in the first at Mercer Community College at 5:00 pm ET. Last Saturday, the Lady Riders and Xtreme played a 6-5 overtime thriller that saw Long Island give up a 4-1 lead to fall behind 5-4 before rebounding for the win. The second semifinal will be the first meeting between Boston and New Jersey, the only team to win every game this year, since the Wildcats trounced the visiting Renegades 6-1 in the season opener for both clubs May 8. Kate Sands was the star on the night with two goals and two assists with Kelly Hammond also tallying two goals. Robin Fulton scored the lone goal for Boston in her only appearance of the season. The conference final will be Sunday at 5:00 pm ET.

Western Conference
In a rematch of last year’s conference final in Vancouver, rivals Seattle Sounders Women and Whitecaps Women will square off yet again Saturday. The postseason 2003 meeting was decided in penalty kicks after a 2-2 draw, with Seattle advancing 3-1. Late addition Tina Frimpong scored both Seattle goals sandwiched by Phebe Trotman finding Sasha Andrews and Andrea Neil for Vancouver’s tallies. Seattle was unable to get the better of the Whitecaps this season with Vancouver earning a 2-2 draw at home and a 1-0 win in Seattle. Trotman again had two assists in Vancouver for the draw and Britanny Timko scored the lone goal in Seattle. The game is at 10:00 pm ET at Swangard Stadium.