WPS Championship Weekend Begins

September 25, 2010 - Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) News Release

Less than 24 hours after their stunning overtime victory in Boston, the Philadelphia Independence arrived in the San Francisco-Bay Area Friday evening following their cross-country flight in advance of Sunday's WPS Championship presented by Citi.

Philadelphiaoriginally planned for a light workout Friday evening, but cancelled their practice to give themselves fresher legs for Sunday's encounter with regular season champion FC Gold Pride.

Saturday will see FC Gold Pride practice from 10-12 noon, with the Independence immediately following from 12-2pm at Pioneer Stadium on the campus of Cal State-East Bay in Hayward, CA.

Weather Report

Weekend weather in the East Bay calls for perfect, slightly warmer then average, conditions for soccer; highs are expected in the mid-80s on both Saturday and Sunday with sunny conditions and mild humidity. Temperatures at kick-off projected to be 73 degrees at 11:30am on Sunday with no chance for precipitation.

Weekend Schedule

Saturday

10-12noon FC Gold Pride Practice Pioneer Stadium

12-2pm Philadelphia Independence Practice Pioneer Stadium

Sunday

9:00am Media Room Opens Pioneer Stadium

9:45am Year-End Awards Recognized (Photo Op)

10:30am WPS Commissioner & WPS CEO Handover (Photo Op)

11:30am WPS Championship presented by Citi

WPS Commissioner's Final Public Event

WPS Commissioner Tonya Antonucci, who will step down after six years of leading the re-launch of women's professional soccer in the U.S. following the WPS Championship game, will make her final public appearance in her role overseeing the world's best women's soccer league on Sunday. An hour before game time, Commissioner Antonucci will formally hand over a PUMA game ball to in-coming WPS CEO Anne-Marie Eileraas to signify the transition in leadership of the league.

The WPS Commissioner will also be on hand for the 2010 WPS Year-End Awards handed out in pre-game and will be part of a special ceremony at halftime with one of the WPS board members on hand to recognize all of Commissioner Antonucci's contributions in making the return of women's professional soccer a reality over the past six years.

GAME PREVIEW NOTES

2010 WPS Championship presented by Citi

Sunday, September 26

FC Gold Pride vs. Philadelphia Independence (2:30pm ET)

Pioneer Stadium, Cal State - East Bay, Hayward, CA

Philadelphia has won consecutive overtime playoff games to advance to the 2010 WPS Championship presented by Citi in its inaugural season as an expansion team.

Only two other true expansion teams in major professional sports have won titles in their inaugural seasons: Chicago Fire in MLS (1998) and Philadelphia Atoms in NASL (1973).

FC Gold Pride earned the right to host the WPS Championship at Pioneer Stadium by clinching the regular season title in mid-August.

The Independence finished third in the WPS regular season standings and defeated Washington Freedom, 1-0, at home in the WPS First Round with a late goal by Amy Rodriguez on Sunday, and then won on the road in Boston, 2-1, on an overtime goal by Danesha Adams.

Philadelphia's victory gave them two straight victories for the fourth time this year, but they have never won three games in a row as a team.

Prior to Thursday, Philadelphia had yet to defeat Boston before ending that winless streak.

Philadelphia Head Coach Paul Riley, celebrated his 47th birthday on Thursday, the day of the team's second consecutive playoff victory.

FC Gold Pride is on a record 13-game unbeaten streak that began July 3rd just after the WPS All-Star Game. Their last game was a 4-1 victory over Philadelphia at Pioneer Stadium on September 11 before getting a bye into the Championship game.

FC Gold Pride's last loss was June 27 at home to Sky Blue FC, 2-0. It was FC Gold Pride's only home loss of the season. Their other losses came in the season opener to Saint Louis Athletica and to Chicago Red Stars in May.

FC Gold Pride is 8-1-3 when playing at home this year, while Philadelphia was just 3-7-2 away from home during the regular season - only two teams had worse road records in the league.

Both teams have excelled in games decided by one goal this year. Philadelphia is now 8-4 in games decided by one goal, including Thursday's playoff victory. FC Gold Pride is 7-1 in games decided by one goal.

FC Gold Pride was 3-0 against Philadelphia this year including victories by 3-1, 2-0 and 4-1.

Philadelphia has never led against FC Gold Pride and has fallen behind 2-0 in all three games that they have played against the Bay Area team.

Philadelphia has come back from a deficit to win four times this year including twice when trailing 2-0 (vs. WSH, vs. ATL). They also came from a goal down to defeat Boston in the WPS Super Semifinal on Thursday.

FC Gold Pride has taken the lead in all but one of their victories this season. The only exception being July 21st in Boston when they came from a goal down to win.

FC Gold Pride won every game this season in which they've had a lead (undefeated and untied). They lost three games in which they fell behind, two of their games they came from behind to tie and their other three ties were scoreless draws.

Philadelphia has given up a lead to lose only twice this year, both 2-1 losses to Boston.

Philadelphia has struggled to contain FC Gold Pride's offense which has scored 9 goals in three games against the Independence. FC Gold Pride forward Christine Sinclair has four of those nine goals in head-to-head games. Marta has three goals and Kelley O'Hara has two, although O'Hara was injured in the season-ending game on September 11.

FC Gold Pride has outshot Philadelphia 35-19 in their three head-to-head meetings.

Philadelphia's Amy Rodriguez finished third in the league in scoring with 12 goals and notched her 13th goal of the season in the WPS First Round. Her teammate Lori Lindsey was second in the league with eight assists.

FC Gold Pride had two players among the top scorers in the league including Marta with a record 19 goals and 10 from Christine Sinclair, fifth in the league. Sinclair also led WPS in assists with nine.

Philadelphia features four 2010 WPS All-Stars including Rodriguez, Lindsey, defender Allison Falk and midfielder Caroline Seger.FC Gold Pride features six 2010 WPS All-Stars including Marta, O'Hara, Sinclair, defender Rachel Buehler, goalkeeper Nicole Barnhart and midfielder Shannon Boxx.

Both Philadelphia and FC Gold Pride have WPS Year-End Award winners. Paul Riley was selected as WPS Coach of the Year in a vote by media, fans and players. FC Gold Pride feature Marta as Michelle Akers Player of the Year, Barnhart as Coast Guard Goalkeeper of the Year and Ali Riley as Rookie of the Year.

Philadelphia midfielder Jen Buczkowski is the only player in the Championship game with the opportunity to win back-to-back WPS titles. She played for Sky Blue FC in 2009 before being selected in the 2009 WPS Expansion Draft. She is also the only player in league history to start in every WPS Playoff Game

Six players from the two teams played in the 2009 WPS Championship. For Philadelphia: Karina LeBlanc, Allison Falk, Lyndsey Patterson, and Jen Buczkowski. For FC Gold Pride: Marta, Shannon Boxx. Philadelphia's Val Henderson was on the Sol roster but did not play. Camille Abily was with the LA Sol but was not available due to national team duty.

During the regular season, the league had a 75% conversion rate for Penalty Kicks in which nine of 12 PK attemps were scored.

FC Gold Pride had four PK attempts in 2010, tied with Washington for the league lead. But FC Gold Pride had just a 50% success rate on PKs - worst in the league. Marta was 2 for 2 while Camile Abily and Tiffeny Milbrett both missed theirs.

Philadelphia had no PK attempts in 2010 but led the league in the number of penalty kicks they faced with five. Four of five PKs against the Independence were goals but they did not face FC Gold Pride in any of those kicks.

While Philadelphia is 0-3 against FC Gold Pride, last year, Sky Blue FC was 0-2-1 vs. the regular season champion Los Angeles Sol before defeating them 1-0 in the WPS Championship.

The 2009 WPS Championship was played in front of 7,218 at The Home Depot Center on Aug 22.

The kick-off time of 11:30am PT is not the earliest kick-off time in league history. The Los Angeles Sol played at game at 10am against the Chicago Red Stars on June 27th at The Home Depot Center

WPS Partners Busy at Championship

The WPS Championship presented by Citi is Sunday at Pioneer Stadium, Cal State-East Bay with coverage on Fox Sports Net, Comcast and select regionals. All WPS national sponsors will be activating over the weekend. Citi, which is presenting sponsor of the game, will have a representative doing the pregame coin toss and award the Citi Sportswoman of the Year Award. They also ran the Citi Soccer Kids Clinic on Friday afternoon at Redding Elementary School in downtown San Francisco (see below). PUMA will honor the PUMA Golden Boot award winner, provide a fan giveaway and activate with a PUMA booth on-site. Coast Guard will feature its 25-foot response boat inside the stadium and do a helicopter flyover in pre-game. WPS Playoff sponsor MedImmune will take part in the ceremonial First Kick and have a booth at Pioneer Stadium promoting its FluMist products.

Citi Kicks Off 2010 WPS Championship Weekend With Community-Based Programs For Local Area Kids

"Citi Soccer Kids" Clinic Conducted by League Standouts Tiffeny Milbrett and Natalie Spilger Highlight Festivities Leading Up to WPS Championship Presented by Citi

San Francisco, CA, September 24, 2010 - To celebrate its inaugural year of title sponsorship of the WPS Championship, Citi is featuring two community events designed to benefit Bay Area children through the game of soccer throughout the weekend leading up to the WPS Championship between the FC Gold Pride and the Philadelphia Independence at Pioneer Stadium in Hayward, California on Sunday, September 26, 2010.

On Friday, Sept. 24, Citi hosted a soccer clinic in downtown San Francisco at Redding Elementary for 30 girls and boys from the local America Scores chapter, led by FC Gold Pride forward and former Women's World Cup Champion Tiffeny Milbrett and Citi Sportswoman of the Year recipient Natalie Spilger. The clinic provided the children the opportunity to hone their skills with two of the best women's players in the game. Along with fine tuning their soccer ability, they also learned about the importance of sportsmanship, work ethic and responsibility that goes along with being a good teammate.

"Exposing these kids to soccer and all the positive things that the sport teaches you is just a great opportunity and a wonderful initiative from Citi," said Milbrett. "First for the kids, it's about having fun, but it's also about learning to express yourself and also about interacting with your friends as teammates, whether it's a pick-up game or soccer drills."

America Scores is an after-school program for 6,000 participants nationwide that empowers students in urban communities through soccer, writing, creative expression, and service-learning. With teamwork as the unifying value, the organization inspires youth to lead healthy lifestyles, be engaged students, and become agents of change in their communities.

On Sunday, Sept. 26, as a prelude to the championship match, Citi will host their latest installment of "Citi Soccer Kids." Citi launched the "Citi Soccer Kids" program this year with events in 6 cities prior to WPS matches. This program has provided unprecedented access and exposure to the WPS for area youth by featuring WPS stars and memorable in-game experiences throughout the 2010 season. Children from the local Boys & Girls Club and America Scores organization will experience the game like never before. During the pre-game introductions, the children will have the opportunity to form a "high five" tunnel to greet participants in the championship game onto the field. After the game, the kids will be able to meet some of their favorite players for an autograph and Q&A session.

"This exciting weekend culminates a successful first year for Citi's partnership with the Women's Professional Soccer League," said Rebecca Macieira-Kaufmann, President of Citibank California. "We are proud to support women's athletics and to share the experience of professional soccer with local communities and Bay Area youth. We look forward to building on the success of the past year and to reaching even more kids next year to continue to raise awareness of this league and the great competition it has to offer."

Additionally, a Citi representative will flip the coin that signals the start of the 2010 WPS Championship and present the Citi Sportswoman of the Year award to Natalie Spilger on Sunday. Natalie was selected by her peers as the Citi Sportswoman of the Year for her organization GreenLaces.org, which has brought awareness to global environmental issues and energy conservation by using athletes as environmental leaders in their countries and communities.

Women's Professional Soccer Stories from September 25, 2010

• AC St. Louis Fall 4-2 in Texas - St. Louis Athletica
• WPS Championship Weekend Begins - WPS

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