WPSL Central Region final four recap
Saturday — Central Regional Semifinals
At the half-hour mark, Adeleine Walick pounced on a rebound from a headed corner for Rapids to put the home side ahead. Payton Cahill in net for Salvo also made several solid saves to keep her side in the first half.
With Cahill still anchoring their defense, Salvo found their footing in the start of the second half. They had a handful of decent chances but could not find a finish. The refereeing of this game is also worthy of mention. The referee seemed willing to let lots of hard tackles go without a whistle, including one on a Salvo player in the penalty area, but was at least consistent on both sides.
Kansas City Current II 6–1 Indios Denver FC
Caroline Kelly opened the scoring in the 5th minute for KC Current II, spinning her defender before placing it into the top corner from the corner of the box with the aid of a deflection. Audrey Teague blasted one low, past the Current goalkeeper to level the scores in the 13th minute. KCCII went back ahead in the 39th minute as Bella Field finished a third rebound off an unlucky Indios keeper.
The second half saw Kelly complete her hat trick, with a solo break away and a spinning finish , weaving her way through defenders. Bella Smith scored with a PK in the 55th minute, blasted into the upper 90. It was 6–1 after Lauren Wood brought down a long diagonal pass and finished from the edge of the box in the 59th minute. With the match over as a contest, it basically became shooting practice for both sides but the score ended 6–1.
Sunday — Central Regional Final.
Colorado Rapids v Kansas City Current II
I posed the question a few weeks ago of who was gonna stop Current II in this region, and Rapids are the latest/last to try. Rapids took the lead when Sami Feller connected and drove the ball into the upper 90 after 15 mins. They doubled their lead just before the first half hydration break, Claire Silverman curling the ball in. Joining the curling end, Olivia Garcia halved the deficit for Kansas City in the 33rd minute. Megan Hinnenkamp headed the equalizer in stoppage time of the first half. The refs threatened to call the game at one point near half time, After making a foul call that Rapids disagreed with, the refs handed out a red card to a Colorado assistant coach and a yellow card to their head coach.
Rapids retook the lead within a minute of the restart, when Alyssa Glover twisted and turned before slotting it past the keeper at her near post. Current nearly equalized in the 50th, but the Rapids goalkeeper stopped the shot with her legs. Current II hit the post three times in the second half but could not score again.
As winners of the Central Region, Colorado Rapids play the winners of the East Region (South Jersey’s SJEB / Vermont Fusion) in the National Semifinals, hosted by Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, OK, on Friday. The WPSL Championship is on Sunday.
Since there are no teams left from our parts of the Central region, this is our last post about the WPSL this season. Thank you for reading, all feedback welcome.
We will continue to cover USL W League, in particular national finalists MN Aurora, in our region here at Northern Lights Football, and professional women's football around the world, over at our sister site Empower Women's Football.
