The Bay Area will soon be hosting its first championship game since the Giants battled the Angels in the 2002 World Series. On Sunday September 26, FC Gold Pride of Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) is slated to host the championship game of its four-team playoff. FC Gold Pride ran away with the best regular season record, finishing 16-3-5 with 53 points. The second place Boston Breakers had 36 points.
The postseason tournament actually starts this Sunday the 19th, with the Washington Independence and Philadelphia Freedom battling at 11:30 a.m. PDT. The winner of that matchup then faces the Breakers on Thursday the 23rd, with the winner of that facing FC Gold Pride Sunday the 26th at 11:30 a.m. The championship game will take place at Cal State East Bay over in Hayward.
FC Gold Pride dominated the regular season and accordingly were rewarded with a spot in the title game because as the WPS website states they're attempting to stay true to European roots of providing greater benefits for a strong season of play, as opposed to enabling teams that get hot late to ride that hot streak to an easy title.
This year's FC Gold Pride team has a whole host of talented players. Their two biggest playmakers are Brazilian super-star Marta and Canadian great Christine Sinclair. Marta leads the team and WPS with 19 goals, while Sinclair leads the league with 9 assists, while also putting up 10 goals. This one-two punch has helped FC Gold Pride lead the league in scoring by putting up nearly 2 goals per game.
On defense, FC Gold Pride is led by goalkeeper Nicole Barnhart, who leads the league in shutouts (8) and goals against average (0.77). Titles obviously aren't handed out on silver platters, but FC Gold Pride is in a great position to take home the first Bay Area professional sports title since the San Jose Earthquakes won the 2003 MLS Cup.
For ticket information, call 888-541-3511 or head to their online ticket site.