Women's Soccer News: New York Fury Weekly Soccer News

The WPSL Elite soccer season is winding down but the excitement is building up as the Final Four complete final games and prepare for the 2012 Championship hosted by Western New York in Rochester, New York at the end of July.  Paul Riley, head coach of the New York Fury is a highly accomplished soccer coach and will be coaching to win. While not at the top of the WPSL Elite charts, New York Fury is one team to keep an eye on.

WPSL Elite New York Fury News

THIS WEEK:  The New York Fury have a pair of home games to close out the regular season this week. On Thursday night, they host FC Indiana and on Sunday they close out the schedule against the Chicago Red Stars. Both games are at Hofstra University, with 7:00 pm kickoffs.

LAST WEEK:   The Fury had an eventful week without actually playing a game.  The Fury officially clinched the fourth and final playoff position when the New England Mutiny gave up a last minute goal to the Chesapeake Charge on Wednesday, dropping them into a 3-3 draw, and out of the playoff picture. New England needed to win all of its games in order to have a chance to catch the Fury, who would have had to lose all three of their remaining games.

Sunday's road game against the Philadelphia Fever was abandoned due to severe weather in South Jersey. When the make-up game could not be played, the league awarded the New York Fury a forfeit win, and three points in the standings. The Fury are still in fourth place, but with two games remaining (a game in hand on both Boston and Western New York), they could pass all three of the teams ahead of them.

THIS WEEK'S OPPONENTS:  FC Indiana are 1-9-2 and in seventh place in the eight-team WPSL Elite. FC Indiana lost their last game, on Thursday, 5-0 to Western New York.

The Chicago Red Stars have been one of the premier teams in the league all season, compiling a 9-3-0 record, while consistently battling for a share of first place. The Red Stars fell in their last outing, 2-1 to Western New York on Saturday.

PLAYOFF PICTURE:  Mathematically, each of the four teams that have clinched playoff spots could win the regular season title, although some tie-breaker scenarios would have to play out. 

• Western New York 30 pts--1 game remaining vs Boston Breakers (Sun. 7/22)
• Boston Breakers 30 pts--1 game remaining vs WNY Flash (Sun 7/22)
• Chicago Red Stars 27 pts--2 games remaining, vs NE Mutiny (Thur 7/19) and vs NY (Sun 7/22)
• New York Fury 25 pts--2 games remaining, vs FC Indiana (Thur 7/19) and vs Chicago (Sun 7/22) 

 WPSL PLAYOFFS:   The Women’s Premier Soccer League announced the playoff schedule for the inaugural Elite League season. The series will consist of semifinal matches on Wednesday, July 25, and a championship final on Saturday, July 28. All games will be played at Sahlen's Stadium in Rochester, N.Y., home of the Western New York Flash.

The league’s No. 2 and No. 3 ranked teams face off in a 5:00 p.m. semifinal match on Wednesday, with the No. 1 and No. 4 teams playing at 8:00 p.m. The winners of the two semifinal matches will meet in a 1:00 p.m. match on Saturday to crown the first champion of the WPSL Elite League.