W-League News Release
Thursday, July 17, 2014
TAMPA, Fla. –
When the season began, the Gulf Coast Texans, Colorado Pride and Braddock Road Stars Elite were new faces to the W-League, hopeful of success at their new, higher level of competition.
A little more than two months later, all three find themselves within a victory of the 2014 W-League Championship as a combination of smart player selection, continued growth from younger players, and determined leadership saw each reach their respective conference title game.
For the Stars Elite, who face the Washington Spirit Reserves on Friday night, continuous progression through the season has been the biggest key to the club’s success. With a group of players who brought extensive experience from the youth ranks, Coach Larry Best understood there would be a learning curve in the Northeastern Conference for his side.
“To be honest we knew it would take time for our younger players to adjust to the league,” he said this week.
The way Best’s side competed, despite its early defeats, left him with an optimism that proved to be well founded as a strong run through the second half of the season culminated with a 3-0 win against the North Jersey Valkyries to clinch a postseason berth.
“There is no question the W-League has provided a great foundation and challenge for our young players to excel in,” Best said. “We felt as the season progressed our training model and methodology would kick in and give us a chance to compete in every game. With a few breaks here and there we have found ourselves in the playoffs.”
Another key to Braddock Road’s success has been the veteran leadership Best was able to bring into the squad, with players like Marisa Park, Kristen Meier and Allie Wisner all playing important leadership roles for the side. That theme has been apparent for the Pride and Texans too, with Gulf Coast able to claim the Southeastern Conference regular-season title thanks in part to the contributions of Chilean international Maria Jose-Rojas.
The Texans, though, were able to call upon a number of strong collegiate players as they made the move up to the W-League this season. Players such as Nicole Waters and Jessica Oram, both of whom played every minute of the regular season, have also played an important role in the strong Southeastern Conference.
“Every single game in our conference is tough,” said Texans coach David Kemp. “You cannot relax for a second; the intensity and the speed of play has been top level and exactly what we hoped for when we joined the league.”
Now the Texans visit one of the W-League’s most historic teams, the Charlotte Lady Eagles, with a chance to add to their outstanding debut season. The two teams drew in each of their first two encounters, and Kemp is expecting another tight contest.
“Both games were pulsating affairs with each team committed to attacking soccer,” Kemp said. “We have created some good chances against them, and hope we can keep that up. It's going to be another classic.”
While the Texans take on one storied club, the Pride will face another in defending champions the LA Blues in the Western Conference Championship. Colorado’s path to the postseason was definitely smoother than that for the Stars Elite and Texans, but there were some bumps in the road as Daniel Clitnovici’s side pushed through the season.
Arguably the biggest was a 3-0 defeat against Seattle on June 13. With another contest two days later against fellow playoff contender the Bay Area Breeze, Clitnovici said the loss to Seattle was an important moment for his side, and the response it showed proved critical in its progression to the postseason.
“The girls knew when they walked off the park [in Seattle] that it wasn't their best performance and they needed to smarten up,” Clitnovici said. “I believe the result in Seattle was a good wake-up call for several of the players who expected to get a result without applying themselves. Two days later against the Breeze the attitudes were back where they should be, and the football side of things took care of itself. We played to our strengths and won the game.”
The loss against Seattle was the last time the Pride fell, and they punctuated clinching their playoff berth with a 4-0 win against Seattle in the return fixture with the Sounders Women last week. Now, as they prepare to face the Blues for the second time after a 2-0 defeat in May, the Pride know they will likely need their best performance of the season to score a place in the championship at IMG Academy.
“The most important thing that we will take into Saturday’s game is that LA haven't been beaten yet and we want to be the team that beats them,” Clitnovici said. “It will be a difficult game, and we need to be 100 percent switched on, but anything's possible when you have two good teams playing each other. As a coach all I will demand from the players is to have the right attitudes, the game will take care of itself if they do.”
It’s not difficult to envision one of the Pride, Texans, or Stars Elite moving on this weekend. Regardless of how the results fall, however, it will be hard to look at their first seasons in the W-League as anything other than an unqualified success.