Tampa, FL (Tuesday, January 29, 2009) – United Soccer Leagues announced the 2009 regular season schedule for the W-League, which will be kicking off its 15th season with the Hampton Roads Piranhas, one of the league’s original teams from 1995, visiting the Charlotte Lady Eagles in the lone game of Opening Night on Friday, May 8.
The Piranhas opener will be their 185th all-time league match in the W-League, putting them in reach of the 200-mark should they reach the postseason, while Charlotte kicks off its 10th campaign in the league with the Lady Eagles’ 137th game.
Opening weekend continues with four more matches the following evening as the 2007 and 2008 W-League champions both open their campaigns. The Washington Freedom, semifinalists in 2007, will visit the Boston Renegades while the defending champion Pali Blues play host to the Los Angeles Legends. The other two matches feature the Long Island Rough Riders hosting the New Jersey Wildcats and the Western Mass Lady Pioneers visiting the New York Magic.
The 2008 runners-up FC Indiana Lionesses open their campaign Wednesday, May 13 at Fort Wayne. The other remaining 2008 semifinalist Seattle Sounders will travel to Vancouver to face the two-time league champion and longtime rival Whitecaps the following weekend on Saturday, May 16.
The Great Lakes and Northeast divisions will play 14-game schedules with the remaining divisions all playing a 12-match campaign.
The season concludes Sunday, July 19 with a slate of 10 matches that will see Washington and FC Indiana both in action. The playoffs will begin just days later as the Great Lakes Division plays a midweek Divisional Round match between the second and third seeds to determine the second participant in the conference tournament.
As previously announced, the W-League postseason has been extended to three weeks with the league semifinals and championship being split into two separate weekends. Eleven W-League teams will qualify for the postseason tournament in 2009 with the league’s Regular Season Champion (based on point percentage) receiving a bye to the league semifinals. The remaining teams will compete in three conference tournaments in playoff week one July 24-26 to determine the other three league semifinalists for the weekend of July 31-August 1 at two locations. The regular season champion will face the lowest remaining overall seed unless they have played during the season, which would result in a pairing with the next lowest seed. The championship game will be August 7-8, and will air on Fox Soccer Channel.
2009 W-League Regular Season Schedule (pdf) [+] 2009 W-League Alignment & Season Details [+]
