WPS Soccer Star Captures Championship at Women's World Cup
Published on July 19, 2011 under Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) News Release
SAN FRANCISCO, CA (July 19, 2011) - Twenty-one Women's Professional Soccer players were featured in the Women's World Cup final that saw tournament darling Japan with a display of determination and skill defeat the US Women's National Team 2-2 (3-1) in a shootout to capture the country's first World Cup title.
From the 16 team tournament that featured rosters stacked with the world's greatest female footballers, including 36 players from WPS, Japan emerged victorious capturing the most prestigious title in women's soccer for the first time in the World Cup's 20-year history. The Championship match took place in front of a sold out crowd of 48,817 at in Frankfurt, Germany. Fans were not disappointed as both teams put on a display of tremendous skill and determination. Twice in the match the United States took a one-goal lead over Japan on goals from the WPS' 2011 top draft pick Alex Morgan (Western New York Flash) and the prolific goal scorer Abby Wambach (magicJack) but the resilient Japanese team answered back each time, tying up the game. After the full 90 minutes of regulation time and 30 minutes of extra time, the teams found themselves tied at two goals apiece, forcing a shootout to determine the World Cup Champion. Despite an excellent effort on the part of the tournament's Golden Glove award winner Hope Solo (magicJack), Japan defeated the US 3-1 in the shootout to capture their country's first World Cup title in five tries.
Japanese defender Aya Sameshima (Boston Breakers) was one of only five players on her team to start all six games, and play all 600 minutes in the team's championship run.
The stars of WPS shined in Germany, collecting five of the tournament's individual awards including Solo's Golden Glove award as the top goalkeeper in the World Cup. US National teammates Wambach and Solo also earned the silver ball and bronze ball as the second and third World Cup MVPs respectively. In this, her third world cup, Wambach scored four goals, and was awarded the silver boot. Brazil's leading goal scorer Marta (Western New York Flash) matched Wambach's four-goal tournament total, earning the bronze boot. In total, WPS players combined to score 18 goals in the tournament including career-first World Cup goals from Rachel Buehler (Boston Breakers), Lauren Cheney (Boston Breakers), Carli Lloyd (Atlanta Beat), Alex Morgan (Western New York Flash) and Megan Rapinoe (magicJack) of the United States.
Women's soccer fans can see their favorite Women's World Cup stars and WPS Heroes as WPS continues regular season play throughout the summer. At select matches in July and August, WPS fans and players will be hosted to a slate of special events to welcome back the 36 WPS stars returning from the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup, bringing the energy and excitement of the tournament to WPS throughout the remainder of the regular season. The celebration kicked off with the first of six See Extraordinary Heroes matches on July 17 in Piscataway, NJ.
Women's Professional Soccer Stories from July 19, 2011
- Flash Host magicJack in Front of Sold out Crowd; Welcome USWNT Players - Western New York Flash
- WPS Soccer Star Captures Championship at Women's World Cup - WPS
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