WPSL Championships Review
The WPSL regular season sprints from May to June, amplifying form and individual performances into poetry as these unpaid athletes strain every sinew. The post-season is a different beast, as clubs opt out and players leave the scene to return to the college sides which are understandably their main concern. Thus it was in the Land of the Lakes where Thunder opted out of the postseason and St Croix Legacy’s leading goalscorer Tatum Trettel was unavailable for the Championship run. The same dynamics play out across every division, but the final two sides standing both have veteran rosters with a large handful of graduates not subject to the same tug of war as active student-athletes.
St Croix made it to the national semifinals by winning the Land of the Lakes division, then the North Lakes conference (on penalty kicks). On their first trip to Oklahoma, they beat Union KC and the (thus far unbeaten) homestanding Oklahoma City FC. They’ve made it through the post-season soaking up pressure like a sponge and unleashing the passing skills of Bella Meier and the speed and finishing of Amara Smith. Smith is typical of the make-up of this tightly knit squad, one of the 11 St Croix academy products, 13 Minnesotans and one of 7 Stillwater area players, having grown up in Lake Elmo, MN. She made her name in Metro United Homeschool before moving on to Minnesota State in Mankato. Meier transferred into St Kates from St Thomas. She is an outlier, a Minnesota Thunder Academy product and the only one in the squad to have been here before (Meier scored a game-winning penalty during Salvo’s national runner-up campaign of 2023). While she’s one of the few women not to have grown up through the St Croix system, the St Kates senior midfielder is joined on this Legacy roster by five others with ties to the St Paul university, including assistant coach Kate Praetz.
While all but 3 of Legacy’s postseason roster are active students and only one is a Division 1 player, 8 of the Sporting squad have graduated college already, and Tiffany Weimer did so from Penn State in 2005. The East Champions could also comfortably field an 11 of active D1 athletes.
The second semifinal was a more even matchup in terms of roster, with Storm featuring 7 graduates and a wide range of D1 schools. While Chattanooga have only 5 graduates, they also showed a number of D1 schools represented.
On the eve of the Championships, the All Region teams were announced, with the places allocated based on the performances in the Regional Semis and Finals.
Semi-Finals
Sporting CT (East) 4-1 St Croix Legacy (Central)
Legacy took a lead after a speculative free kick whipped in from midfield was deflected past the keeper by Sporting’s Kylee McIntosh in the 32nd minute but that would be the high point for Legacy and even the one goal lead would evaporate in the scorching Oklahoma heat before half time. With Sporting happy to pass it until a gap appeared, Amani Jenkins finished off a succession of precision passing along the penalty area in the 43rd minute.
With only five minutes played in the second half, Sporting claimed the lead as Lexi Taylor set up Sporting player coach Tiffany Weimer close in. In the 70th minute, Weimer turned provider in unorthodox fashion as her shot from out wide on the left was acrobatically tipped wide by Hadley Johnson. Unfortunately for the Legacy, Tori Sousa powered home a header from the corner to make it 3-1. The hydration break arrived a minute too late for St Croix and almost immediately after play resumed it was 4-1, Abby Johnson placed it past her namesake in the Legacy goal. Legacy were unable to break through the defense and in particular the attentions of Marist graduate McIntosh.
California Storm (West) 1-0 Chattanooga FC (South)
Having themselves ended Charlotte Eagles’ attempt to become the first WPSL repeat champions last year, it is the turn of the West Champions to attempt the trick. Chattanooga on the other hand are in the midst of their first WPSL playoff run.
The first half went by goal-less. The second half saw Storm pinned back by incessant Chattanooga attacking but it was still goal-less by the second half hydration break in the 68th minute. After being thoroughly outplayed, it was Cal Storm who found the winner in the 80th minute. USYNT player Erica Grillione created a shot out of a broken attack and lofted the ball into the top corner from the edge of the box.
Final – Sporting CT 4-0 California Storm
Would it be a first title for the first year team from Connecticut, or would the champs repeat? Sporting set about stamping their mark on the game early.
With only three minutes on the clock, UConn Husky Lexi Taylor fired a shot from outside the box and Storm goalie Abbie Faingold tipped it away for a corner. The set piece was scrambled in at the back post by Emily Senatore of Oxford, Connecticut and Northwestern State in Louisiana. The goal was the first that the Californian side had conceded in 500 minutes.
Taylor was also responsible for setting up the second goal, unable to find a way through on the top of the box but Amani Jenkins rifled it home in the tenth minute.
Storm built back up and fought for possession but with no penetration into the Sporting penalty area. Despite Storm possession, it was 3-0 in the 27th minute as Cara Jordan’s cross from the left was connected upon by Abbie Burgess and deflected past Faingold.
Tiffany Weimer clipped a ball from the left side of midfield between the defenders and on to the run of Jordan. Jordan poked the ball past the onrushing Faingold for the fourth in 35 minutes and, it would turn out, the final goal of the game.
The second half of this second match in three days reflected fatigue and 90 degree heat, more than it reflected the scoreline.