2010 Women's Professional Soccer season explained

Competition:	Women's Professional Soccer
Season:	2010
Winners:	FC Gold Pride
League Topscorer:	Marta (20)
Matches:	102
Total Goals:	224
Average Goals:	2.20
Biggest Home Win:	BOS 4-0 NJ
Biggest Away Win:	ATL 1-6 BAY
Highest Scoring:	ATL 1-6 BAY
Longest Wins:	5 (BAY days 2–6, 12–16)
Longest Unbeaten:	12 (BAY days 12–24)
Longest Losses:	5 (ATL days 2–6, WAS days 13–17)
Highest Attendance:	8,261 (WAS v STL)
Lowest Attendance:	2,118 (WAS v PHI)
Average Attendance:	3,601^[1]
Prevseason:	2009
Nextseason:	2011

The 2010 Women's Professional Soccer season was the second season for the WPS, the top level professional women's soccer league in the United States. Regular season champion FC Gold Pride won the WPS Championship on September 26 with a 4–0 victory over the Philadelphia Independence.

Changes from the 2009 season

• Two franchises, based in Philadelphia,^[2] and Atlanta,^[3] joined the league.
• A potential Dallas franchise is pending upon finding a site at which to play,^[4] and WPS is constantly considering other expansion possibilities as well, such as Seattle.^[5]
• The Los Angeles Sol did not return, as that franchise was terminated January 28, 2010 after Anschutz Entertainment Group returned their franchise rights and a buyer was not found.^[6]
• The number of games in the regular season increased from 20 to 24.
• On May 27, financial problems caused the Saint Louis Athletica to fold. Players became free agents on June 1.

Competition format and schedule

• The regular season began on April 10 and ended on September 12 with a bye week on May 22 (the date the USWNT hosted Germany's WNT in a friendly); the playoffs began on September 19 and ended on September 26.
• Each team played a total of 24 games, evenly divided between home and away games. Under the following format, each team played three other teams four times each, two at home and two away, and the remaining four teams three times each, two at home and one away or one at home and two away.
• The playoff format was identical to that of the 2009 season. 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, with the winner traveling to face the second-placed regular season finisher in the Super Semifinal midweek. The Super Semifinal winner then traveled to face the first-placed regular season finisher in the WPS Championship.
• Games played against the Saint Louis Athletica before they folded still counted toward a team's point total.

Abbreviation and Color Key: Atlanta Beat - ATL • Boston Breakers - BOS • Chicago Red Stars - CHI • FC Gold Pride - BAY Philadelphia Independence - PHI • 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	21	22	23	24 <	-- Win: bgcolor=#DFE7FF	scoreLoss: bgcolor=#FFDFDF	scoreTie: bgcolor=#FFFDD0	scorepost scores as home-away-->
	PHI	WSH	BAY	PHI	NJ	WSH	CHI	CHI	PHI	BAY	CHI	BOS	NJ	CHI	WSH	BAY	BOS	BOS	PHI	BOS	BAY	BOS	NJ	WSH
	0-0	3-1	2-1	1-0	0-1	0-2	0-0	1-0	2-2	0-4	1-1	3-1	0-1	1-0	3-2	0-0	2-0	1-2	3-1	2-3	1-6	1-3	0-0	1-0
	WSH	PHI	STL	CHI	WSH	BAY	NJ	NJ	BAY	CHI	PHI	ATL	WSH	BAY	CHI	WAS	ATL	PHI	NJ	ATL	PHI	ATL	BAY	NJ
	1-2	1-1	1-1	0-2	0-0	1-2	0-0	1-2	1-0	1-2	1-2	3-1	2-1	1-2	1-3	3-1	2-0	2-2	4-0	2-3	1-2	1-3	2-0	0-0
	NJ	STL	NJ	BOS	BAY	PHI	BAY	ATL	WSH	ATL	BOS	WSH	ATL	NJ	ATL	BOS	PHI	NJ	BAY	PHI	WAS	BAY	PHI	WAS
	1-0	1-1	0-1	0-2	2-0	0-1	1-0	0-0	2-2	1-0	1-2	0-0	1-1	2-0	1-0	1-3	3-0	1-2	0-0	1-2	2-0	2-3	2-0	2-1
	STL	NJ	ATL	NJ	CHI	BOS	CHI	WSH	PHI	BOS	NJ	ATL	WAS	PHI	BOS	WSH	ATL	CHI	WSH	CHI	ATL	NJ	BOS	PHI
	2-0	3-1	2-1	0-1	2-0	1-2	1-0	1-1	1-3	1-0	0-2	0-4	3-2	2-0	1-2	1-4	0-0	0-0	0-0	2-3	1-6	1-1	2-0	4-1
	ATL	BOS	WSH	ATL	STL	CHI	WSH	NJ	BAY	NJ	ATL	WSH	BOS	BAY	NJ	CHI	WSH	BOS	CHI	ATL	NJ	BOS	CHI	BAY
	0-0	1-1	3-1	1-0	2-1	0-1	2-1	2-1	1-3	1-4	2-2	3-2	1-2	2-0	4-1	3-0	2-0	2-2	1-2	3-2	1-0	1-2	2-0	4-1
	BAY	CHI	BOS	WSH	PHI	NJ
	2-0	1-1	1-1	3-1	2-1	2-2	Cancelled
	CHI	BAY	CHI	BAY	ATL	STL	BOS	PHI	BOS	PHI	BAY	WSH	CHI	ATL	PHI	CHI	ATL	WAS	BOS	PHI	WSH	BAY	ATL	BOS
	1-0	3-1	0-1	0-1	0-1	2-2	0-0	2-1	1-2	1-4	0-2	0-0	2-0	0-1	4-1	1-2	1-2	1-1	4-0	1-0	2-1	1-1	0-0	0-0
	BOS	ATL	PHI	STL	BOS	ATL	PHI	BAY	CHI	PHI	CHI	NJ	BAY	BOS	BAY	ATL	BOS	PHI	NJ	BAY	CHI	NJ	CHI	ATL
	1-2	3-1	3-1	3-1	0-0	0-2	2-1	1-1	2-2	3-2	0-0	0-0	3-2	2-1	1-4	3-2	3-1	2-0	1-1	0-0	2-0	2-1	2-1	1-0

2010 schedule

Standings

Attendance

Average home attendances

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

Team
	12	53,878	4,490
	12	48,296	4,025
	12	45,904	3,825
	12	44,284	3,690
	11	36,521	3,320
	12	36,675	3,056
	4	12,109	3,027
	12	35,605	2,967
Total	87	313,272	3,601

Playoffs

WPS Championship

FC Gold Pride: GK 1 Nicole Barnhart FW 9 Kandace Wilson DF 5 DF 4 Rachel Buehler (c) DF 3 Ali Riley MF 77 MF 20 DF 14 Becky Edwards FW 15 Tiffeny Milbrett FW 12 Christine Sinclair FW 10 Marta (MVP) Substitutions: MF 13 FW 7 FW 11 Manager: Albertin Montoya

Philadelphia Independence: GK 1 Val Henderson DF 15 Nikki Krzysik DF 3 DF 24 MF 26 Holmfridur Magnusdottir MF 6 Lori Lindsey (c) MF 4 MF 9 MF 25 Tina DiMartino FW 8 Amy Rodriguez FW 10 Substitutes: FW 19 DF 2 MF 16 Manager: Paul Riley

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Match officials Assistant referees: Marlene Duffy Veronica Perez Fourth official: Kari Seitz

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Match rules 90 minutes. 30 minutes of extra-time if necessary. Penalty shoot-out if scores still level. Seven named substitutes. Maximum of three substitutions.

Leaders

Scoring

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

1	Marta	FC Gold Pride	19	2160
2	Abby Wambach	Washington Freedom	13	1979
3	Amy Rodriguez	Philadelphia Independence	12	2001
4	Kelly Smith	Boston Breakers	11	1711
5	Christine Sinclair	FC Gold Pride	10	2054
6	Eniola Aluko	Saint Louis Athletica/Atlanta Beat	9	1608
7	Ella Masar	Chicago Red Stars	8	1146
8	Jordan Angeli	Boston Breakers	7	1457
9	Tiffeny Milbrett	FC Gold Pride	6	1237
Kelley O'Hara	FC Gold Pride	6	1445

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

1	Christine Sinclair	FC Gold Pride	9	2054
2	Lori Lindsey	Philadelphia Independence	8	1948
Abby Wambach	Washington Freedom	8	1979
4	Camille Abily	FC Gold Pride	6	1103
Amy Rodriguez	Philadelphia Independence	6	2001
6	Caroline Seger	Philadelphia Independence	5	1515
Shannon Boxx	Saint Louis Athletica/FC Gold Pride	5	1705
Kelly Smith	Boston Breakers	5	1711
Sonia Bompastor	Washington Freedom	5	1877
Heather O'Reilly	Sky Blue FC	5	1980
Marta	FC Gold Pride	5	2160

Fouls

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

1	Formiga	Chicago Red Stars	42	1887
2	Jen Buczkowski	Philadelphia Independence	35	1808
3	Megan Rapinoe	Chicago Red Stars	34	1477
4	Hólmfríður Magnúsdóttir	Philadelphia Independence	31	1593
5	Caroline Seger	Philadelphia Independence	30	1515
6	Katie Chapman	Chicago Red Stars	29	1874
7	Abby Wambach	Washington Freedom	27	1979
8	Shannon Boxx	Saint Louis Athletica/FC Gold Pride	25	1705
Sonia Bompastor	Washington Freedom	25	1877
10	Kelly Smith	Boston Breakers	24	1711

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

1	Sonia Bompastor	Washington Freedom	44	1877
2	Kelly Smith	Boston Breakers	43	1711
3	Lori Chalupny	Saint Louis Athletica/Atlanta Beat	38	1737
4	Abby Wambach	Washington Freedom	37	1979
5	Formiga	Chicago Red Stars	31	1887
6	Aya Miyama	Saint Louis Athletica/Atlanta Beat	23	1952
7	Leslie Osborne	Boston Breakers	22	1440
Karen Carney	Chicago Red Stars	22	1449
9	Allie Long	Washington Freedom	21	1847
Cristiane	Chicago Red Stars	21	1886

Goalkeeping

Minimum 60 minutes played per game average

Rank	Goalkeeper	Club	GP	MINS	SOG	SVS	GA	GAA	W-L-T	SHO
1	Nicole Barnhart	FC Gold Pride	18	1880	92	73	16	0.77	13-3-5	8
2	Jillian Loyden	Chicago Red Stars	23	2070	99	72	27	1.17	6-11-6	6
3	Hope Solo	Saint Louis Athletica/Atlanta Beat	22	1980	139	104	36	1.64	6-8-8	6

Awards

Player of the Week

Week	Player of the Week	Club	Week's Statline
align=center	1^[7]	Eniola Aluko	Saint Louis Athletica	2 G (40', 62') GWG
align=center	2^[8] ^[9]	Abby Wambach	Washington Freedom	1 G (44'), 2 A (51', 90') GWA
align=center	3	Lori Lindsey	Philadelphia Independence	3 A (55', 58', 68') GWA
align=center	4	Sonia Bompastor	Washington Freedom	1 G (20'), 1 A (47')
align=center	5	Karen Bardsley	Sky Blue FC	13 SVS, SHO
align=center	6	Marta	FC Gold Pride	2 G (16', 38'), GWG
align=center	7	Kosovare Asllani	Chicago Red Stars	1 G (56'), GWG
align=center	8	Amy Rodriguez	Philadelphia Independence	1 A (3') 1 G (29'), GWG
align=center	9	Marta	FC Gold Pride	1 A (42') 2 G (55', 90'), GWG
align=center	10	Danesha Adams	Philadelphia Independence	1 G (5') 1 A (18'), GWA
align=center	11	Amy Rodriguez	Philadelphia Independence	2 G (62', 72')
align=center	12	Marta	FC Gold Pride	1 A (1') 2 G (30', 86'), GWA
align=center	13	Ella Masar	Chicago Red Stars	1 G (42'); 3rd in 3 matches
align=center	14	Christine Sinclair	FC Gold Pride	2 G (45', 80'), GWG
align=center	15	Caroline Seger	Philadelphia Independence	3 A (7', 8', 52'), GWA
align=center	16	Hope Solo	Atlanta Beat	5 SVS + 6 SVS, SHO over 2 matches
align=center	17	Kelly Smith	Boston Breakers	2 G (1', 62') vs. ATL, 1 G (52'), 1 A (25') vs. PHI
align=center	18	Amy Rodriguez	Philadelphia Independence	1 G (53') vs. CHI, 2 A (60', 81') and GWA vs. ATL
align=center	19	Eniola Aluko	Atlanta Beat	1 G (73'), GWG
align=center	20	Abby Wambach	Washington Freedom	2 G (79' PK, 84'), GWG
align=center	21	Veronica Boquete	Chicago Red Stars	1 G (4'), GWG vs. PHI, 2 A (50', 90+'), GWA vs. WAS
align=center	22	Kelley O'Hara	FC Gold Pride	2 G (40', 50'), 1 A (41'), GWA

Player of the Month

Month	Player of the Month	Club	Month's Statline
align=center	April	Lori Lindsey	Philadelphia Independence	4 A in 3 games; Independence 1-0-2 in April
align=center	May	Karen Bardsley	Sky Blue FC	31 saves and 2 SO in 4 games; Sky Blue 1-1-2 in May
align=center	June	Amy Rodriguez	Philadelphia Independence	5 G, 2 A in 5 games; Independence 3-1-1 in June
align=center	July	Jordan Angeli	Boston Breakers	4 G, 1 A in 6 games; Breakers 5-1-0 in July
align=center	August	Kelly Smith	Boston Breakers	4 G, 1 A in 5 games; Breakers 3-1-1 in August

End-of-year awards

WPS announced its end-of-year awards on September 16.^[10]

Award	Winner	Club
Michelle Akers Player of the Year	Marta	FC Gold Pride
MedImmune Defender of the Year	Amy LePeilbet	Boston Breakers
Coast Guard Goalkeeper of the Year	Nicole Barnhart	FC Gold Pride
Rookie of the Year	Ali Riley	FC Gold Pride
Coach of the Year	Paul Riley	Philadelphia Independence
Citi Sportswoman of the Year	Natalie Spilger	Chicago Red Stars
PUMA Golden Boot	Marta	FC Gold Pride

Statistics

Scoring

• First Goal of the Season: Lauren Cheney for Boston Breakers against Washington Freedom, 7th minute (April 10)^[11]
• Earliest Goal in a Match: 2nd minute
  • Lori Lindsey for Philadelphia Independence against Sky Blue FC (June 6)^[12]
• Latest Goal in a Match: 90th minute
  • Christie Welsh for Washington Freedom against Atlanta Beat (April 18)^[13]
• Widest Winning Margin: 5 Goals
  • Atlanta Beat 1-6 FC Gold Pride (August 28)
• Most Goals Scored in a Match: 7 Goals
  • Atlanta Beat 1-6 FC Gold Pride (August 28)
• First Hat-Trick:
• Fastest Hat-Trick:
• First Own Goal: Allison Falk of Philadelphia Independence for Saint Louis Athletica (8 May)
• Average Goals per Match: 2.45

Discipline

• First Yellow Card: Fabiana for Boston Breakers against Washington Freedom, 44th minute (April 10)^[11]
• First Red Card: Jen Buczkowski for Philadelphia Independence against Boston Breakers, 86th minute (April 18)
• Most Yellow Cards in a Match: 3
  • Boston Breakers 1-1 Philadelphia Independence - 3 for Philadelphia (Caroline Seger, 2x Jen Buczkowski) (April 18)^[14]
• Most Red Cards in a Match:

Related competitions

All-Star Game

See main article: WPS All-Star 2010. WPS All-Star 2010 took place on June 30, a midseason date as opposed to the previous year's postseason All-Star game. It was played at the new Kennesaw State University Soccer Stadium in Kennesaw, Georgia, home to the Atlanta Beat;.^[15] The United States Coast Guard once again presented the game, which aired on Fox Soccer Channel again as well.

The all-star selection process was the same as in the previous year, although twice as many players were selected. The top US vote-getter, Abby Wambach, and the top international vote-getter, Marta, then chose between the remaining 20 voted-on players to create their teams, with the 14 at-large selections being distributed by the league. Marta's XI defeated Abby's XI 5–2.

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. News: Women’s Professional Soccer Finalizes Philadelphia as Eighth WPS Franchise for 2010 . WPS . March 23, 2009 . April 17, 2009 . https://web.archive.org/web/20090425050831/http://www.womensprosoccer.com/news/press_releases/090317-wps-finalizes-philadelphia . April 25, 2009 . dead .
3. News: Atlanta Beat Announced as Ninth Team in Women’s Professional Soccer . WPS . June 18, 2009 . July 4, 2009 . https://web.archive.org/web/20090625182015/http://www.womensprosoccer.com/news/press_releases/090618-atlanta-beat-announced . June 25, 2009 . dead .
4. News: Bay Area joins Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) for inaugural season . WPS . September 3, 2008 . April 17, 2009 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110716230350/http://www.womensprosoccer.com/news/press_releases/080903-bay-area-joins-wps . July 16, 2011 . dead .
5. News: WPS in Seattle? . bigsoccer.com . December 13, 2009 . December 17, 2009. See link in first post
6. Web site: WPS Discontinues Operations of Los Angeles Sol, womensprosoccer.com, 28 January 2010 . January 29, 2010 . https://web.archive.org/web/20100629001444/http://www.womensprosoccer.com/Home/news/press_releases/100128-sol-discontinues . June 29, 2010 . dead .
7. Web site: Athletica's Aluko named WPS Player of the Week. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20100416034829/http://www.womensprosoccer.com/Home/news/general/100413-Aluko-Award.aspx. April 16, 2010. April 13, 2010. Women's Professional Soccer.
8. Web site: WPS Playoffs Presented by MedImmune - First Round Preview. September 17, 2010. July 15, 2022.
9. . FC Gold Pride Forward Kelley O'Hara Named WPS Player of the Week . . OurSports Central . September 14, 2010 . July 15, 2022.
10. 2010 WPS Year-End Awards Announced . Women's Professional Soccer . oursportscentral.com . September 16, 2010 . July 15, 2022.
11. Web site: Washington Freedom vs. Boston Breakers . STATS LLC . April 12, 2010 . https://web.archive.org/web/20100416223723/http://www.womensprosoccer.com/Home/boxscores/2010/964240.aspx . April 16, 2010 . dead .
12. Web site: Philadelphia Independence vs. Sky Blue FC . STATS LLC . June 29, 2010 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110806105214/http://www.womensprosoccer.com/boxscores/2010/964290.aspx . August 6, 2011 . dead .
13. Web site: Washington Freedom vs. Atlanta Beat . STATS LLC . April 19, 2010 . https://web.archive.org/web/20100424033850/http://www.womensprosoccer.com/boxscores/2010/964250.aspx . April 24, 2010 . dead .
14. Web site: Boston Breakers vs. Philadelphia Independence . STATS LLC . April 19, 2010 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110804211636/http://www.womensprosoccer.com/boxscores/2010/964252.aspx . August 4, 2011 . dead .
15. News: KSU hopes to raise profile with new soccer stadium . Ralph . Ellis . . April 15, 2010 . April 25, 2010. https://web.archive.org/web/20100417074745/http://www.ajc.com/news/cobb/ksu-hopes-to-raise-462143.html. April 17, 2010 . live.