The 2010

Women's Professional Soccer Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) was the top-level professional women's soccer league in the United States. It began play on March 29, 2009. The league was composed of seven teams for its first two seasons and fielded six teams for the 2011 sea ...

season was the second season for the WPS, the top level professional

women's soccer Women's association football, more commonly known simply as women's football or women's soccer, is a team sport of association football when played by women only. It is played at the professional level in multiple countries and 176 national te ...

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 The Philadelphia Independence was an American professional soccer club that was based in the Philadelphia suburb of Chester, Pennsylvania. The team joined Women's Professional Soccer as an expansion team in 2010 and played its home games at West ...

Changes from the 2009 season

*Two franchises, based in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, and

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,71 ...

, joined the league. * A potential Dallas franchise is pending upon finding a site at which to play, and WPS is constantly considering other expansion possibilities as well, such as Seattle. *The Los Angeles Sol did not return, as that franchise was terminated January 28, 2010 after

Anschutz Entertainment Group The Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG), also known as AEG Worldwide, is an American global sporting and music entertainment presenter and a subsidiary of The Anschutz Corporation. It is the world's largest owner of sports teams and sports even ...

returned their franchise rights and a buyer was not found. *The number of games in the regular season increased from 20 to 24. *On May 27, financial problems caused the

Saint Louis Athletica Saint Louis Athletica was an American professional soccer club that was based in the St. Louis suburb of Fenton, Missouri that participated in Women's Professional Soccer. Athletica started the 2009 season playing its home games at Ralph Korte St ...

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 The United States women's national soccer team (USWNT) represents the United States in international women's soccer. The team is the most successful in international women's soccer, winning four Women's World Cup titles (1991, 1999, 2015, and ...

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

before they folded still counted toward a team's point total. 2010 schedule
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Standings

Attendance

Average home attendances

Ranked from highest to lowest average attendance.

Playoffs

WPS Championship

Leaders

Scoring

Fouls

Goalkeeping

''Minimum 60 minutes played per game average''

Awards

Player of the Week

Player of the Month

End-of-year awards

WPS announced its end-of-year awards on September 16.

Statistics

Scoring

*First Goal of the Season: Lauren Cheney for Boston Breakers against

Washington Freedom Washington Freedom was an American professional soccer club based in the Washington, D.C., suburb of Germantown, Maryland, that participated in Women's Professional Soccer. The Freedom was founded in 2001 as a member of the defunct Women's Unite ...

, 7th minute (April 10) *Earliest Goal in a Match: 2nd minute ** Lori Lindsey for

against

Sky Blue FC NJ/NY Gotham FC is a professional women's soccer team based in Harrison, New Jersey. Founded in 2006 as Jersey Sky Blue, the team was known as Sky Blue FC from 2008 until 2020. A founding member of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) in 201 ...

(June 6) *Latest Goal in a Match: 90th minute ** Christie Welsh for

against Atlanta Beat (April 18) *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

for

(8 May) *Average Goals per Match: 2.45

Discipline

*First Yellow Card: Fabiana for Boston Breakers against

, 44th minute (April 10) *First Red Card: Jen Buczkowski for

against Boston Breakers, 86th minute (April 18) *Most Yellow Cards in a Match: 3 ** Boston Breakers 1-1

- 3 for Philadelphia (

Caroline Seger Sara Caroline Seger (born 19 March 1985) is a Swedish footballer who plays as a midfielder and club captain for FC Rosengård in the Damallsvenskan league. She is the current captain of the Swedish national football team. Club career Link� ...

, 2x Jen Buczkowski) (April 18) *Most Red Cards in a Match:

Related competitions

All-Star Game

WPS All-Star

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

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 Kennesaw is a suburban city northwest of Atlanta in Cobb County, Georgia, United States, located within the greater Atlanta metropolitan area. Known from its original settlement in the 1830s until 1887 as Big Shanty, it became Kennesaw under its ...

, home to the Atlanta Beat;. The

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mu ...

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 Mary Abigail Wambach (born June 2, 1980) is an American retired soccer player, coach, and member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame. A six-time winner of the U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year award, Wambach was a regular on the U.S. women's na ...

, and the top international vote-getter,

Marta Marta may refer to: People * Marta (given name), a feminine given name * Märta, a feminine given name * Marta (surname) :István Márta composer * Marta (footballer) (born 1986), Brazilian professional footballer Places * Marta (river), an ...

, 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.

References

External links

Official Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Women's Professional Soccer Season 2010