2009 Women's Professional Soccer season explained

Competition:	Women's Professional Soccer
Season:	2009
Winners:	Sky Blue FC
League Topscorer:	Marta (10)
Total Goals:	153
Average Goals:	2.10
Longest Wins:	4 (LA rounds 13–16)
Longest Unbeaten:	11 (LA rounds 6–16)
Longest Losses:	4 (BAY rounds 12–15)
Highest Attendance:	16,089 (WAS v NJ)
Lowest Attendance:	1,878 (NJ v BOS)
Average Attendance:	4,684^[1]
Nextseason:	2010

The 2009 Women's Professional Soccer season served as the inaugural season for WPS, the top level professional women's soccer league in the United States. The regular season began on March 29 and ended on August 9, with the postseason being held between August 15 and 21.

Competition format

• The season began on March 29 and ended on August 9.
• Each team played a total of 20 games evenly divided between home and away games. Each team played every other team three times, either twice at home and once away or once at home and twice away, for a total of 18 games. The remaining two games were played against two other teams, one at home and one away.
• The four teams with the most points from the regular season qualified for the playoffs. The third- and fourth-placed regular season finishers played each other in the single-match First Round. The winner of the First Round then faced the second-placed regular season finisher in the Super Semifinal, and the winner faced the first-placed regular season finisher in the WPS Final.

Results table

Abbreviation and Color Key: Boston Breakers – BOS • Chicago Red Stars – CHI • FC Gold Pride – BAY • Los Angeles Sol – LA Saint Louis Athletica – STL • Sky Blue FC – NJ • Washington Freedom – WSH Win Loss Tie Home
Club	Match
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20<	-- Win: bgcolor=#DFE7FF	scoreLoss: bgcolor=#FFDFDF	scoreTie: bgcolor=#FFFDD0	score-->
	BAY	STL	WSH	CHI	LA	LA	WSH	NJ	STL	BAY	CHI	WSH	NJ	NJ	CHI	BAY	NJ	WSH	STL	LA
	2–1	2–0	1–3	4–0	2–1	0–0	1–1	2–1	0–1	1–1	0–2	1–0	1–0	1–2	1–0	0–1	0–0	0–1	0–1	2–1
	STL	WSH	NJ	BOS	NJ	BAY	STL	LA	BAY	WSH	NJ	BOS	LA	WSH	BAY	BOS	NJ	WSH	LA	STL
	0–1	1–1	0–0	4–0	0–2	0–1	0–2	1–1	1–1	0–0	1–0	0–2	4–0	2–1	3–1	1–0	1–0	2–3	3–1	2–0
	BOS	NJ	LA	WSH	NJ	STL	CHI	LA	WSH	CHI	BOS	LA	STL	CHI	BOS	LA	STL	WSH	NJ	STL
	2–1	1–1	1–0	3–4	1–0	1–0	0–1	0–2	3–1	1–1	1–1	2–0	0–1	3–1	0–1	0–0	1–1	2–3	2–0	1–1
	WSH	NJ	BAY	STL	BOS	BOS	NJ	BAY	STL	CHI	WSH	NJ	BAY	STL	CHI	WSH	STL	BAY	CHI	BOS
	2–0	0–2	1–0	0–0	2–1	0–0	1–0	0–2	2–0	1–1	3–1	0–0	2–0	1–2	4–0	0–1	0–1	0–0	3–1	2–1
	CHI	BOS	LA	WSH	BAY	CHI	LA	NJ	BOS	WSH	LA	NJ	BAY	LA	WSH	NJ	BAY	BOS	CHI	BAY
	0–1	2–0	0–0	3–3	1–0	0–2	2–0	1–0	0–1	0–1	1–2	1–2	0–1	0–1	1–0	1–0	1–1	1–0	2–0	1–1
	LA	BAY	CHI	BAY	CHI	LA	WSH	BOS	STL	LA	CHI	STL	BOS	BOS	WSH	CHI	STL	BOS	BAY	WSH
	0–2	1–1	0–0	1–0	0–2	1–0	2–1	2–1	1–0	0–0	1–0	1–2	1–0	1–2	4–4	1–0	1–0	0–0	2–0	3–1
	LA	CHI	BOS	BAY	STL	BOS	NJ	BAY	LA	CHI	STL	BOS	CHI	LA	NJ	STL	CHI	BOS	BAY	NJ
	2–0	1–1	1–3	3–4	3–3	1–1	2–1	3–1	3–1	0–0	0–1	1–0	2–1	0–1	4–4	1–0	2–3	1–0	3–2	3–1

Standings

Attendance

Average home attendances

Ranked from highest to lowest average attendance.^[1]

Team
	10	62,980	6,298
	10	57,466	5,747
	10	49,276	4,928
	10	46,651	4,665
	10	38,326	3,833
	10	36,666	3,667
	10	36,513	3,651
Total	70	327,878	4,684

Playoffs

See main article: 2009 Women's Professional Soccer Playoffs.

Leaders

^[2] Last updated: August 4, 2009

Offense

Leading Goalscorers!Rank!Player!Club!G!Min

1	Marta	Los Angeles Sol	9	1440
2	Camille Abily	Los Angeles Sol	8	1314
3	Cristiane	Chicago Red Stars	6	920
4	Abby Wambach	Washington Freedom	6	977
	Christine Sinclair	FC Gold Pride	6	1052
	Eniola Aluko	Saint Louis Athletica	6	1123
7	Lisa De Vanna	Washington Freedom	5	629
	Natasha Kai	Sky Blue FC	5	954
	Kelly Smith	Boston Breakers	5	974
10	Sonia Bompastor	Washington Freedom	4	793
	Tiffany Milbrett	FC Gold Pride	4
	Lindsay Tarpley	Chicago Red Stars	4

Assist Leaders!Rank!Player!Club!A!Min

1	Sonia Bompastor	Washington Freedom	6	1170
	Aya Miyama	Los Angeles Sol	6	1620
3	Eniola Aluko	Saint Louis Athletica	4	1123
	Lisa De Vanna	Washington Freedom	4	767
5	Keeley Dowling	Sky Blue FC	3	529
	Kendall Fletcher	Saint Louis Athletica	3	695
	Marta	Los Angeles Sol	3	1440
	Megan Rapinoe	Chicago Red Stars	3	1096
	Lindsay Tarpley	Chicago Red Stars	3	1117
	Aly Wagner	Los Angeles Sol	3	695
	Abby Wambach	Washington Freedom	3	977
	Tiffany Weimer	FC Gold Pride	3	644

Most Shots!Rank!Player!Club!Shts!Min

1	Abby Wambach	Washington Freedom	64	977
2	Christine Sinclair	FC Gold Pride	52	1052
3	Marta	Los Angeles Sol	51	1440
4	Eniola Aluko	Saint Louis Athletica	49	1123
5	Megan Rapinoe	Chicago Red Stars	45	1096
	Kristine Lilly	Boston Breakers	45	1260
7	Natasha Kai	Sky Blue FC	42	974
	Aya Miyama	Los Angeles Sol	42	1620
9	Cristiane	Chicago Red Stars	41	920
	Lisa De Vanna	Washington Freedom	41	920
	Kelly Smith	Boston Breakers	41	974
	Lindsay Tarpley	Chicago Red Stars	41

Most Crosses!Rank!Player!Club!Crs!Min

1	Karen Carney	Chicago Red Stars	51	1201
2	Marta	Los Angeles Sol	36	1440
3	Megan Rapinoe	Chicago Red Stars	34	1096
4	Aya Miyama	Los Angeles Sol	33	1530
5	Sonia Bompastor	Washington Freedom	30	1170
6	Kristine Lilly	Boston Breakers	25	1260
7	Eniola Aluko	Saint Louis Athletica	24	1123
8	Amy Rodriguez	Boston Breakers	21	920
	Heather O'Reilly	Sky Blue FC	21	1170
	Heather Mitts	Boston Breakers	21	1203

Fouls

Fouls Committed!Rank!Player!Club!FC!Min

1	Megan Rapinoe	Chicago Red Stars	35	1096
2	Carli Lloyd	Chicago Red Stars	33	953
3	Kelly Smith	Boston Breakers	30	974
	Abby Wambach	Washington Freedom	30	977
	Shannon Boxx	Los Angeles Sol	30	1440
6	Formiga	FC Gold Pride	27	1093
	Sonia Bompastor	Washington Freedom	27	1170
8	Rosana	Sky Blue FC	23
9	Brittany Klein	Chicago Red Stars	22	1228
	Marta	Los Angeles Sol	22	1440

Fouls Suffered!Rank!Player!Club!FS!Min

1	Lori Chalupny	Saint Louis Athletica	44	1170
2	Kelly Smith	Boston Breakers	43	974
3	Abby Wambach	Washington Freedom	38	977
	Sonia Bompastor	Washington Freedom	38	1170
5	Kristine Lilly	Boston Breakers	32	1260
6	Brittany Klein	Chicago Red Stars	26	1228
	Marta	Los Angeles Sol	26	1440
	Aya Miyama	Los Angeles Sol	26	1530
9	Formiga	FC Gold Pride	25	1093
10	Tina DiMartino	FC Gold Pride	20
	Leslie Osborne	FC Gold Pride	20	1217

Goalkeeping

270+ MINS only

Rank	Goalkeeper	Club	GP	MINS	SOG	SVS	GA	GAA	W-L-T	SHO
1	Jillian Loyden	Saint Louis Athletica	3	270	18	16	1	0.33	2–1–0	2
2	Karina LeBlanc	Los Angeles Sol	18	1620	87	73	9	0.50	10–3–5	12
3	Ali Lipsher	Boston Breakers	11	928	46	37	6	0.58	4–4–2	5
4	Hope Solo	Saint Louis Athletica	15	1350	86	71	13	0.87	7–5–3	7
5	Jenni Branam	Sky Blue FC	16	1395	82	62	15	0.97	6–6–3	6
6	Caroline Jönsson	Chicago Red Stars	19	1710	109	87	23	1.21	5–9–5	4
7	Alison Whitworth	FC Gold Pride	4	360	22	17	5	1.25	1–2–1	1
8	Kristin Luckenbill	Boston Breakers	9	782	41	24	12	1.38	3–4–2	2
9	Nicole Barnhart	FC Gold Pride	12	1260	83	61	20	1.43	3–7–4	2
10	Erin McLeod	Washington Freedom	13	1170	69	46	19	1.46	5–5–3	3
11	Briana Scurry	Washington Freedom	3	270	17	11	6	2.00	0–2–1	0

Awards

Player of the Week

Week	Player of the Week	Club	Week's Statline
Week 1	Aya Miyama	Los Angeles Sol	1 A (6') GWA
Week 2	Marta	Los Angeles Sol	2 G (42', 45') GWG
Week 3	Kelly Smith	Boston Breakers	1 G (53') GWG, 1 A (87')
Week 4	Aly Wagner	Los Angeles Sol	1 A (47') GWA
Week 5	Abby Wambach	Washington Freedom	2 G (18', 90') GWG, 1 A (51')
Week 6	Sonia Bompastor	Washington Freedom	2 G (29', 90')
Week 7	Lori Chalupny	Saint Louis Athletica	1 G (16') GWG
Week 8	Christine Sinclair	FC Gold Pride	1 G (30') GWG
Week 9	Jillian Loyden	Saint Louis Athletica	6 SVS, SHO
Week 10	Shannon Boxx	Los Angeles Sol	1 G (50')
Week 11	Camille Abily	Los Angeles Sol	1 G (90'), 2 G (14', 60')
Week 12	Eniola Aluko	Saint Louis Athletica	1 G (43') GWG
Week 13	Erin McLeod	Washington Freedom	7 SVS, SHO
Week 14	Marta	Los Angeles Sol	1 G (73') GWG, 2 G (62', 92')
Week 15	Lindsay Tarpley	Chicago Red Stars	1 A (48'), 1 G (61') GWG
Week 16	Cristiane	Chicago Red Stars	3 G (31', 46+', 65') GWG
Week 17	Natasha Kai	Sky Blue FC	2 G (5', 86') 6 shots
Week 18	Abby Wambach	Washington Freedom	2 G (35', 56')
Week 19	Lindsay Tarpley	Chicago Red Stars	1 A (24'), 1 G (47') GWG
Week 20	Abby Wambach	Washington Freedom	1 A (58'), 2 G (20', 49')

Player of the Month

Month	Player of the Month	Club	Month's Statline
April	Kelly Smith	Boston Breakers	3 G, 1 A in 3 games; Breakers 2–2–0 in April
May	Sonia Bompastor	Washington Freedom	2 G, 3 A in 4 games; Freedom 2–0–2 in May
June	Camille Abily	Los Angeles Sol	5 G in 6 games; Sol 4–0–2 in June
July	Abby Wambach	Washington Freedom	4 G, 1 A in 5 games; Freedom 3–2–1 in July

Statistics

Scoring

• First Goal of the Season: Allison Falk for Los Angeles Sol against Washington Freedom, 6th minute (March 29)^[3]
• Earliest Goal in a Match: 2 minutes
  • Kelly Smith for Boston Breakers against Los Angeles Sol (2 May)^[4]
  • Eniola Aluko for Saint Louis Athletica against Sky Blue FC (June 28)^[5]
• Latest Goal in a Match: 93+ minutes
  • Jennifer Nobis for Boston Breakers against Sky Blue FC (July 12)^[6]
• Widest Winning Margin: 4 goals
  • Chicago Red Stars 4–0 Boston Breakers (April 25)^[7]
  • Los Angeles Sol 4–0 Chicago Red Stars (June 27)
• Most Goals Scored in a Match: 8
  • Sky Blue FC 4–4 Washington Freedom (April 26)
• First Hat-Trick: Cristiane for Chicago Red Stars against FC Gold Pride (July 12))^[8]
• Fastest Hat-Trick: 35 minutes
  • Cristiane for Chicago Red Stars against FC Gold Pride: 31' 46+' 65' (July 12)^[8]
• First Own Goal: Ifeoma Dieke of Chicago Red Stars for Saint Louis Athletica (23 May)^[9]
• Average Goals per match: 2.086

Discipline

• First Yellow Card: Nikki Krzysik for Chicago Red Stars against Saint Louis Athletica, 90th minute (April 4)^[10]
• First Red Card: Frida Östberg for Chicago Red Stars against Washington Freedom, 63rd minute (April 11)^[11]
• Most Yellow Cards: 4
  • Chioma Igwe (Chicago Red Stars)
  • Kia McNeill (Saint Louis Athletica)
• Most Yellow Cards in a Match: 4
  • Boston Breakers 2–0 Saint Louis Athletica – 3 for Boston (Kasey Moore, Alex Scott, & Stacy Bishop) and 1 for St. Louis (Melissa Tancredi) (April 11)^[12]
  • Saint Louis Athletica 0–0 Los Angeles Sol – 2 for St. Louis (Kia McNeill & Daniela) and 2 for Los Angeles (Aya Miyama & Shannon Boxx) (April 25)^[13]
  • Los Angeles Sol 0–0 Boston Breakers – 2 for Los Angeles (Shannon Boxx & Camille Abily) and 2 for Boston (Angela Hucles & Nancy Augustyniak)^[14]
  • Washington Freedom 0–0 Chicago Red Stars – 2 for Washington (Abby Wambach & Sonia Bompastor) and 2 for Chicago (Brittany Klein & Megan Rapinoe) (June 13)^[15]
  • Chicago Red Stars 3–1 FC Gold Pride – 3 for Chicago (Lindsay Tarpley, Karen Carney, & Carli Lloyd) and 1 for Bay Area (Formiga) (July 12)^[8]

Streaks

• Longest Winning Streak: 4 Games
  • Los Angeles Sol Games 13–16
• Longest Unbeaten Streak: 11 games
  • Los Angeles Sol Games 6–16
• Longest Winless Streak: 10 games
  • FC Gold Pride Games 8–17
• Longest Losing Streak: 4 Games
  • FC Gold Pride Games 12–15
• Longest Shutout: 361 minutes by Karina LeBlanc for Los Angeles Sol
• Longest Drought: 451 minutes for Chicago Red Stars

Other Firsts

• First player to score twice in a match: Marta for Los Angeles Sol against Sky Blue FC (April 5)
• First come-from-behind victory: Chicago Red Stars 2–1 Washington Freedom (July 1)
• First team to lose to all opponents: Chicago Red Stars with loss to Washington Freedom on July 26
  • The only other team to accomplish this was FC Gold Pride with loss to Sky Blue FC on August 5
• First team to beat all opponents: Los Angeles Sol with win against Boston Breakers on August 9
  • The only other team to accomplish this was Sky Blue FC with win against Los Angeles Sol on August 22
• First goalkeeper assist: Hope Solo (to Christie Welsh) for Saint Louis Athletica against FC Gold Pride on August 9

Home Team Record

(Regular season only)

• 33 wins, 20 losses, 17 ties – 1.657 PPG
• 87 goals for, 59 goals against – +28 GD

Related Competitions

All-Star Game

See main article: WPS All-Star 2009. WPS All-Star 2009 was played on August 30 at Soccer Park in the St. Louis suburb of Fenton, Missouri, with the WPS All-Stars defeating Swedish powerhouse Umeå IK of Damallsvenskan 4–2. The match was televised in the US on Fox Soccer Channel.

See also

• List of Women's Professional Soccer stadiums

External links

• Official Site

Notes and References

1. News: WPS Average Attendance Drops 23% In League's Second Season. September 14, 2010. July 15, 2022. Sports Business Journal.
2. Web site: League Leaders . WPS . August 4, 2009 . https://web.archive.org/web/20090803181632/http://www.womensprosoccer.com/Home/standings/leaders.aspx . August 3, 2009 . dead .
3. Web site: Washington Freedom vs. Los Angeles Sol . STATS LLC . April 20, 2009 . https://web.archive.org/web/20090422042008/http://www.womensprosoccer.com/~/media/84F6C67D7419464CA09BA8822195849D.ashx . April 22, 2009 . dead .
4. Web site: Los Angeles Sol vs. Boston Breakers . STATS LLC . https://web.archive.org/web/20090903055618/http://www.womensprosoccer.com/news/general/~/media/A4574C9281A848BEA11FC0032A81A3CE.ashx . September 3, 2009 . dead . August 5, 2009 .
5. Web site: Saint Louis Athletica vs. Sky Blue FC . STATS LLC . https://web.archive.org/web/20120227113057/http://www.womensprosoccer.com/Home/schedule/~/media/6955EA5C4A534D74873D4C30AAA9DDF2.ashx . February 27, 2012 . dead . August 5, 2009 .
6. Web site: Sky Blue FC vs. Boston Breakers . STATS LLC . July 14, 2009 . https://web.archive.org/web/20100106205122/http://www.womensprosoccer.com/Home/news/general/~/media/6CA69FE2BC99415CA218C34DF39EFA1C.ashx . January 6, 2010 . dead .
7. Web site: Boston Breakers vs. Chicago Red Stars . STATS LLC . April 28, 2009 . https://web.archive.org/web/20090616072003/http://www.womensprosoccer.com/news/general/~/media/1FE1A4245E1A4DD3B2718A8855AF87D3.ashx . June 16, 2009 . dead .
8. Web site: FC Gold Pride vs. Chicago Red Stars . STATS LLC . July 14, 2009 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20100107225330/http://www.womensprosoccer.com/Home/news/general/~/media/BB6D2CEAA9034AACBAF8F278E0FC44F0.ashx . January 7, 2010 .
9. Web site: Saint Louis Athletica vs. Chicago Red Stars . STATS LLC . May 26, 2009 . https://web.archive.org/web/20090616071912/http://www.womensprosoccer.com/Home/schedule/~/media/37EF2CB4A25842CE9D5F858E42231D23.ashx . June 16, 2009 . dead .
10. Web site: Chicago Red Stars vs. Saint Louis Athletica . STATS LLC . April 20, 2009 . https://web.archive.org/web/20090422041807/http://www.womensprosoccer.com/Home/schedule/~/media/4BEA602F35D943E2BA3DDBA6324D930A.ashx . April 22, 2009 . dead .
11. Web site: Chicago Reds Stars vs. Washington Freedom . STATS LLC . April 20, 2009 . https://web.archive.org/web/20090422041443/http://www.womensprosoccer.com/Home/schedule/~/media/134CD02F9E02491EAEE79C1A6D5B5BA5.ashx . April 22, 2009 . dead .
12. Web site: Saint Louis Athletica vs. Boston Breakers . STATS LLC . April 20, 2009 . https://web.archive.org/web/20090422042201/http://www.womensprosoccer.com/Home/schedule/~/media/87BAEA234E754F0B8500EAC70F535221.ashx . April 22, 2009 . dead .
13. Web site: Los Angeles Sol vs. Saint Louis Athletica . STATS LLC . April 28, 2009 .
14. Web site: Boston Breakers vs. Los Angeles Sol . STATS LLC . https://web.archive.org/web/20090917150007/http://www.womensprosoccer.com/news/general/~/media/90D79E6857A14595BBC05A1B5274D2CA.ashx . September 17, 2009 . dead . August 5, 2009 .
15. Web site: Chicago Red Stars vs. Washington Freedom . STATS LLC . https://web.archive.org/web/20090616071715/http://www.womensprosoccer.com/Home/schedule/~/media/F9A2BCBCCF044FAABF10E9E859C5832B.ashx . June 16, 2009 . dead . August 5, 2009 .