Fc Gold Pride

BOSTON - Danesha Adams scored an extra-period goal to lead the Independence to a 2-1 win over the Boston Breakers in a Women's Professional Soccer super semifinal at Harvard Stadium last night. Adams' second goal of the season came on an assist from Tina DiMartino. The Independence will play FC Gold Pride for the league championship on Sunday at Pioneer Stadium in Hayward, Calif. (Comcast Network, 2:30 p.m.) Boston opened the scoring on a goal by Lauren Cheney in the game's 22nd minute.

HAYWARD, Calif. - FC Gold Pride is far ahead of the rest of Women's Professional Soccer this season and stretched its lead over the second-place Independence with a 2-0 victory on Saturday night. Gold Pride raised its record to 10-3-1 (31 points) and now is 10 points ahead of the Independence (6-5-3, 21 points). "In the midfield we did well, but up top we never penetrated or got beyond them," Independence head coach Paul Riley said. "We did a decent job stopping Marta, obviously the game plan was to stop her, but I think we forgot about Sinclair while trying to focus on Marta.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - The Independence will be running on fumes when they meet the well-rested and heavily favored FC Gold Pride in Sunday's 2:30 p.m. Women's Professional Soccer championship game at California State University's Pioneer Stadium in Hayward, Calif. FC Gold Pride, the regular-season champion, has been idle since Sept. 11, while the Independence have had to play overtime twice since Sunday. Their latest game was Thursday's 2-1 win over the host Boston Breakers in the WPS super semifinal.

If anyone forgot that Marta is still one of the best women players in the world, she reminded everyone of it yesterday when her two goals and one assist led FC Gold Pride from the San Francisco Bay area over the Independence, 3-1, at West Chester's Farrell Stadium. Tina DiMartino scored the Independence goal.

The Independence's 24-game schedule for their inaugural Women's Professional Soccer season was released yesterday, and all 12 home games will be staged on weekends. Previously, only the home opener and the first away game had been released. The Independence open their season April 11 against fellow expansion team the Atlanta Beat in a 6 p.m. game at West Chester University's Farrell Stadium. All home games this season will be played at West Chester. The Independence won't have any home games the same day that the Major Soccer League's Union are home.

Kelley O'Hara scored two goals and Marta and Christine Sinclair each had one as FC Gold Pride posted a 4-1 win over the Independence in Hayward, Calif., on Saturday. Philadelphia's Lianne Sanderson scored in the 51st minute. Gold Pride (16-3-5) won the Women's Pro Soccer crown. The Independence (10-10-4) finished third, making the playoffs, which start on Sept. 19.

The Philadelphia Independence will open Women's Professional Soccer play when it hosts the Atlanta Beat at West Chester University on Sunday, April 11. The complete schedule: Sunday, April 11: ATLANTA BEAT, 6 Sunday, April 18: at Boston Breakers, 6 Sunday, April 25: WASHINGTON FREEDOM, 6 Saturday, May 1: ATLANTA BEAT, 6 Saturday, May 8: at St. Louis Athletica, 7:10 Sunday, May 16: at Chicago Red...

BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. - Lianne Sanderson's goal at the 78-minute mark proved decisive Wednesday as the Independence defeated the Chicago Red Stars, 2-1, in a Women's Professional Soccer match. The Red Stars' Ella Masar had tied the contest with a goal at 62 minutes, after the Independence's Amy Rodriguez put the visitors on the board with a tally at 53 minutes. The first half was scoreless. The game was played before 3,152 at Toyota Park. The Independence improved to 9-6-4, for 31 points, to remain in second place behind FC Gold Pride.

Trailing by two in the game's first 20 minutes, the Independence rallied behind two goals by Tina DiMartino and an 81st-minute game-winner by sub Joanna Lohman to take a 3-2 victory over the Atlanta Beat last night at West Chester University's Farrell Stadium. The win kept the Independence (10-6-4) solidly in second place behind FC Gold Pride in the WPS. The Independence next plays Sky Blue FC (6-9-4) Sunday afternoon at Rutgers.

Becky Edwards couldn't ask for more in beginning her professional soccer career. A graduate of Downingtown West High School, Edwards gets to play each day in practice with the best player in the world, four-time FIFA player of the year Marta of Brazil. Edwards and Marta are teammates in Women's Professional Soccer with FC Gold Pride. Based in Northern California, FC Gold Pride will make their only visit to Pennsylvania when they play the Independence in Sunday's 6 p.m. game at West Chester University.

When the Independence started preparing for their second season in March, their mantra was "unfinished business. " The Independence wanted to get back to the title tilt and finish the job. Last year, they lost to FC Gold Pride, 4-0, in the Women's Professional Soccer championship game. A blue-collar type team with no international stars, Indy worked their way through 18 regular-season games and one playoff match to advance to the championship clash on Saturday in Rochester, N.Y., against the Western New York Flash.

WOMEN'S PROFESSIONAL SOCCER CHAMPIONSHIP Independence (12-4-3) at Western New York Flash (13-2-3) Saturday, 4 p.m. at Sahlen Stadium, Rochester, N.Y. TV: Comcast SportsNet. Last game: The Flash defeated the Atlanta Beat, 2-0, on Aug. 15 at Sahlen Stadium to capture the WPS regular-season title and a semifinal bye. . . . The Independence's 10-goal scorer, forward Tasha Kai, tallied the winning goal in a 2-0 victory over magicJack on Aug. 20 in a playoff semifinal at PPL Park in Chester.

ROCHESTER, N.Y. - Another chance at Women's Professional Soccer glory. That's all the Independence wanted. They got their chance. They ended up with more disappointment. Behind the marksmanship of their World Cup shooters, and with one big save from goalkeeper Ashlyn Harris, the Western New York Flash defeated the Independence on penalty kicks, 5-4, after battling to a 1-1 tie in the WPS championship game on Saturday. The game required 90 minutes of regulation play, 30 minutes of overtime, and then the minimum five rounds of penalty kicks to determine a winner.

ROCHESTER, N.Y. - Another chance at Women's Professional Soccer glory, that's all the Independence wanted. They got their chance. They ended up with more disappointment. Behind the marksmanship of their World Cup shooters and with one big save from goalkeeper Ashlyn Harris, the Western New York Flash defeated the Independence on penalty kicks, 5-4, after battling to a 1-1 tie in the WPS championship game on Saturday. The game required 90 minutes of regulation play, 30 minutes of overtime and then the minimum five rounds of penalty kicks to determine a winner.

IN THE WORLD of Women's Professional Soccer, she's unavoidable. Her name is Marta, the modern day Mia Hamm who is a legend in her native Brazil, and in the tiny microcosm that is the WPS, she's the showstopper who doesn't come cheap. Tomorrow when the Independence, an enigma in itself this season, travel to upstate New York to take on Marta and the Western New York Flash (4 p.m., CSN) it will be revenge for a club against a player who captured her third WPS title at Philadelphia's expense last season with the now-defunct FC Gold Pride.

Tasha Kai and her Independence teammates are rested and ready to take on magicJack in a Women's Professional Soccer League semifinal, 4 p.m. Saturday at PPL Park. Independence coach Paul Riley gave Kai, his leading scorer, off Sunday in Florida against magicJack in the regular-season finale. The 28-year-old forward, known for her all-out style of play, needed a rest. MagicJack (10-7-2) defeated the Independence, 2-1, then beat Boston, 3-1, Wednesday in the quarterfinal round of the playoffs for third place.

It didn't take Nicole Barnhart long to make an impact with her newest soccer team. Playing in goal for the Independence in Sunday's opening, 2-2 Women's Professional Soccer draw with host Sky Blue of New Jersey, Barnhart made a diving save to her right in the 70th minute on a blast by Casey Nogueira that appeared ready to increase the home team's lead to 3-1. Instead it stayed at 2-1, and the Independence escaped with a draw on Christina DiMartino's...

After reaching the championship game in their inaugural season in Women's Professional Soccer, the Independence are looking to go a step further in this year of change. The season gets under way Sunday, when the Independence travel to Yurcak Field at Rutgers University for a 6 p.m. matchup with Sky Blue. "We have a lot of new players, but we still have a core of players from last year," said Independence defender Nikki Krzysik, among the team's most versatile players. "The first day of preseason felt like we picked up where we left off. " The Independence roster has been revamped, and once again so has the three-year-old league.