Women's Premier Soccer League

The Women's Premier Soccer League (WPSL) is a national amateur women's soccer league in the United States. The WPSL started as the Western Division of the USISL's W-League, breaking away in 1998. The league is sanctioned by the United States Adult Soccer Association (USASA) as an affiliate of the United States Soccer Federation (USSF).

Goal of WPSL

The goal of the WPSL is to promote and develop women's soccer at the highest level.

2007 Season

Long Island Fury entered the 2007 season as defending champions, having defeated San Diego WFC Sealions in the 2006 semifinals and River Cities Futbol Club in the 2006 finals.

The 2007 season ended with the WPSL National Championship, hosted by the Tampa Bay Flash, on July 28-29, 2007. Due to the geographic imbalance of the league, there were varied qualifying methods for the four places in the Championships:

* Ajax America Women won the West Conference, and an automatic berth in the National Championship.
* F.C. Indiana won the Midwest Conference, and an automatic berth in the National Championship.
* South Conference champ Tampa Bay Elite defeated Southwest Conference champ Denver Diamonds 2-1.
* The East Conference's 5-team tournament results:
** North Division runner-up and defending league champ Long Island Fury defeated North Division third-place SoccerPlus Connecticut 3-2.
** North Division champ New England Mutiny defeated Mid-Atlantic Division runner-up Northampton Laurels 6-0.
** Mid-Atlantic Division champ Atlantic City Diablos defeated Long Island Fury 3-1.
** New England Mutiny defeated Atlantic City Diablos 2-1 in double overtime.

The results of the Championship tournament:

* Semifinal: F.C. Indiana defeated Ajax America Women 4-3 on penalties after a 1-1 draw.
* Semifinal: New England Mutiny defeated Tampa Bay Flash 5-4 on penalties after a 1-1 draw.
* Final: F.C. Indiana defeated New England Mutiny 3-0 in a match that saw New England's goalkeeper eliminated by injury in the 5th minute, and one Mutiny player and the team's coaching staff all red-carded in the 58th minute [http://www.wpsl.info/news/index.php/?cat=1&id=286] .

2008 Changes

*The defending champions, F.C. Indiana, have jumped to the W-League for 2008. Other teams to leave the league include River Cities Futbol Club, Tampa Bay Elite, and Central Florida Strikers.
*Several new clubs have joined the WPSL for 2008. They are marked in the list below. The Brevard County Cocoa Expos jump to the WPSL from the W-League.
*The league overhauled its conference and division structure, including an all-expansion South Division of the new Big Sky Conference (the Big Sky North is the old Southwest Conference).

2008 Teams

Pacific Conference

North Division

*California Storm
*F.C. Sacramento Pride
*Monterey Blues "New for 2008"
*San Francisco Nighthawks
*Sonoma County F.C. SOL
*Walnut Creek Power

outh Division

*Ajax America Women
*Claremont Stars
*Los Angeles Rampage "New for 2008"
*San Diego WFC SeaLions
*SD United "New for 2008"
*West Coast FC "New for 2008"

Big Sky Conference

North Division

*Albuquerque Lady Asylum
*Arizona Rush "New for 2008"
*Colorado Springs United
*Denver Diamonds
*Northern Arizona
*Salt Lake City Sparta
*Utah Spiders

outh Division

*Fort Worth "New for 2008"
*Oklahoma Alliance FC "New for 2008"
*South Select "New for 2008"
*Tulsa Spirit "New for 2008"
*Vitesse Dallas "New for 2008"

unshine Conference

*Brevard County Cocoa Expos "New for 2008"
*F.C. Thomasville Dragons "New for 2008"
*Florida Surge "New for 2008"
*Miami Kickers
*Orlando Falcons
*Palm Beach United
*Puerto Rico Capitals "New for 2008"

Midwest Conference

*Chicago United Breeze
*F.C. St. Louis
*F.C. Twente3 IL
*MYSC Lady Blues
*Ohio Premier Women's Soccer Club "New for 2008"

East Conference

North Division

*Adirondack Lynx
*Boston Aztecs
*Maine Tide "New for 2008"
*Massachusetts Stingers
*New England Mutiny
*New York Athletic Club
*SoccerPlus Connecticut

Mid-Atlantic Division

*Atlantic City Diablos
*Central Delaware SA Future
*Lancaster Inferno
*Long Island Fury
*Millburn Magic "New for 2008"
*Northampton Laurels FC
*Philadelphia Liberty FC

Champions

* 1997 - New Jersey Nationals
* 1998 - Silicon Valley Red Devils
* 1999 - California Storm
* 2000 - San Diego WFC SeaLions
* 2001 - Ajax America Women
* 2002 - California Storm
* 2003 - Utah Spiders
* 2004 - California Storm
* 2005 - F.C. Indiana
* 2006 - Long Island Fury
* 2007 - F.C. Indiana

External links

* [http://www.wpsl.info Official site of the WPSL]