2010 Women's Professional Soccer season

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.

Women's Professional Soccer

Season	2010
Champions	FC Gold Pride
Matches played	102
Goals scored	224 (2.2 per match)
Average goals/game	2.20
Top goalscorer	Marta (20)
Biggest home win	BOS 4-0 NJ
Biggest away win	ATL 1-6 BAY
Highest scoring	ATL 1-6 BAY
Longest winning run	5 (BAY days 2–6, 12–16)
Longest unbeaten run	12 (BAY days 12–24)
Longest losing run	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]
← 2009 2011 →

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
Atlanta Beat	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
Boston Breakers	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
Chicago Red Stars	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
FC Gold Pride	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
Philadelphia Independence	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
Saint Louis Athletica	BAY	CHI	BOS	WSH	PHI	NJ
	2-0	1-1	1-1	3-1	2-1	2-2	Cancelled
Sky Blue FC	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
Washington Freedom	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

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	FC Gold Pride	24	16	5	3	46	19	+27	53	Advance to Championship
2	Boston Breakers	24	10	6	8	36	28	+8	36	Advance to Super Semifinal
3	Philadelphia Independence	24	10	4	10	37	36	+1	34	Advance to First Round
4	Washington Freedom	24	8	7	9	33	33	0	31
5	Sky Blue FC	24	7	7	10	20	31	−11	28
6	Chicago Red Stars	24	7	6	11	21	27	−6	27
7	Atlanta Beat	24	5	6	13	20	40	−20	21
8	Saint Louis Athletica	6	2	3	1	9	8	+1	9	Team withdrawn

Source: WPS Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) points, 2) goal difference, 3) head-to-head result.

Attendance

Average home attendances

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

Team	GP	Attendance	Average
Boston Breakers	12	53,878	4,490
Chicago Red Stars	12	48,296	4,025
Washington Freedom	12	45,904	3,825
Atlanta Beat	12	44,284	3,690
Sky Blue FC	11	36,521	3,320
FC Gold Pride	12	36,675	3,056
Saint Louis Athletica	4	12,109	3,027
Philadelphia Independence	12	35,605	2,967
Total	87	313,272	3,601

Playoffs

The Gold Pride pose with the WPS Championship trophy

	First Round					Super Semifinal					WPS Championship
											1	FC Gold Pride	4
						2	Boston Breakers	1			3	Philadelphia Independence	0
	3	Philadelphia Independence	1			3	Philadelphia Independence	2
	4	Washington Freedom	0

WPS Championship

September 26, 2010

19:30 GMT

FC Gold Pride	4 - 0	Philadelphia Independence
Sinclair 16' 53' Wilson 28' Marta 90'

Pioneer Stadium, Hayward, California

Attendance: 5,228

Referee: Jennifer Bennett

FC Gold Pride

Philadelphia Independence

FC Gold Pride: GK 1 Nicole Barnhart FW 9 Kandace Wilson DF 5 Candace Chapman  80' DF 4 Rachel Buehler (c) DF 3 Ali Riley MF 77 Shannon Boxx  75' MF 20 Camille Abily  66' DF 14 Becky Edwards FW 15 Tiffeny Milbrett FW 12 Christine Sinclair FW 10 Marta (MVP) Substitutions: MF 13 Kristen Graczyk  80' FW 7 Kelley O'Hara  66' FW 11 Kiki Bosio  75' Manager: Albertin Montoya

Philadelphia Independence: GK 1 Val Henderson DF 15 Nikki Krzysik DF 3 Allison Falk DF 24 Estelle Johnson MF 26 Holmfridur Magnusdottir MF 6 Lori Lindsey (c)  58' MF 4 Jen Buczkowski MF 9 Caroline Seger  76' MF 25 Tina DiMartino FW 8 Amy Rodriguez FW 10 Lianne Sanderson  64' Substitutes: FW 19 Danesha Adams  58' DF 2 Heather Mitts  64' MF 16 Lyndsey Patterson  76' Manager: Paul Riley

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

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
1[7]	Eniola Aluko	Saint Louis Athletica	2 G (40', 62') GWG
2[8][9]	Abby Wambach	Washington Freedom	1 G (44'), 2 A (51', 90') GWA
3[9]	Lori Lindsey	Philadelphia Independence	3 A (55', 58', 68') GWA
4[9]	Sonia Bompastor	Washington Freedom	1 G (20'), 1 A (47')
5[9]	Karen Bardsley	Sky Blue FC	13 SVS, SHO
6[9]	Marta	FC Gold Pride	2 G (16', 38'), GWG
7[9]	Kosovare Asllani	Chicago Red Stars	1 G (56'), GWG
8[9]	Amy Rodriguez	Philadelphia Independence	1 A (3') 1 G (29'), GWG
9[9]	Marta	FC Gold Pride	1 A (42') 2 G (55', 90'), GWG
10[9]	Danesha Adams	Philadelphia Independence	1 G (5') 1 A (18'), GWA
11[9]	Amy Rodriguez	Philadelphia Independence	2 G (62', 72')
12[9]	Marta	FC Gold Pride	1 A (1') 2 G (30', 86'), GWA
13[9]	Ella Masar	Chicago Red Stars	1 G (42'); 3rd in 3 matches
14[9]	Christine Sinclair	FC Gold Pride	2 G (45', 80'), GWG
15[9]	Caroline Seger	Philadelphia Independence	3 A (7', 8', 52'), GWA
16[9]	Hope Solo	Atlanta Beat	5 SVS + 6 SVS, SHO over 2 matches
17[9]	Kelly Smith	Boston Breakers	2 G (1', 62') vs. ATL, 1 G (52'), 1 A (25') vs. PHI
18[9]	Amy Rodriguez	Philadelphia Independence	1 G (53') vs. CHI, 2 A (60', 81') and GWA vs. ATL
19[9]	Eniola Aluko	Atlanta Beat	1 G (73'), GWG
20[9]	Abby Wambach	Washington Freedom	2 G (79' PK, 84'), GWG
21[9]	Veronica Boquete	Chicago Red Stars	1 G (4'), GWG vs. PHI, 2 A (50', 90+'), GWA vs. WAS
22[9]	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
April	Lori Lindsey	Philadelphia Independence	4 A in 3 games; Independence 1-0-2 in April
May	Karen Bardsley	Sky Blue FC	31 saves and 2 SO in 4 games; Sky Blue 1-1-2 in May
June	Amy Rodriguez	Philadelphia Independence	5 G, 2 A in 5 games; Independence 3-1-1 in June
July	Jordan Angeli	Boston Breakers	4 G, 1 A in 6 games; Breakers 5-1-0 in July
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

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.