WPSL NW Recap - Week 6: Playoff field set; AC Seattle wins Evergreen Cup derby

AC Seattle celebrates after clinching Evergreen Cup and playoff spot Friday night | Photo: Wilson Tsoi / goalWA

With the Tualatin Hills United SC Diamonds coming into the final week of the regular season as the only team to have clinched a playoff spot, Week Six was all about the three teams in Seattle chasing the two Washington berths while Eugene Metro Azul and Westside Timbers battled for the remaining slot from Oregon. Meanwhile, the Evergreen Cup was also on the line for bragging rights in Washington.

With three games in four days, AC Seattle's results in the the first three contests of the week would have a great impact on how things played out as they would visit Oregon playoff hopeful Westside and square off against Emerald City in a game that could decide the Evergreen Cup.

Final Evergreen Cup standings

In the end, winning two of three was enough for the first-year side as AC Seattle clinched the derby competition and a playoff spot (based on three-way tiebreaker) with the win Friday evening on the road against Emerald City, who were unable to find a win in their finale to advance by the same tiebreaker, allowing Issaquah to move onto the postseason with the draw between the two. Seattle's win at Westside left too big of a hole for the Timbers to make up as their road draw allowed host Eugene to join THUSC in the playoffs.

Jen Stoltenberg had another big week, but her odds of finishing as the leading goal scorer were diminished midweek with AC Seattle's Romina Pinna pulling even. The THUSC striker, however, pulled away once more Sunday and has one more game Tuesday to add even more… if she even plays with the postseason on the horizon.

Lower Division Recap: Round 14

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It came down to three teams playing in two games on Independence Day that would decide the 2013 NASL Spring championship. In the end, league-leading Carolina fell in San Antonio to the Scorpions, allowing the Atlanta Silverbacks to claim the crown with a win in Minnesota. Meanwhile in USL Pro, the Richmond Kickers kept their unbeaten status going with a comeback win in Dayton.

Lower Division Five Stars: Round Thirteen

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A weekly list of the top five players or performances of each round in NASL, USL Pro and MLS Reserves in all competitions…

ROUND THIRTEEN (June 24-30)

Player – Club (5 Star Selections)

Andrew Dykstra - Richmond Kickers
The keeper shut out league-leading Orlando City in a bit 2-0 victory on Saturday and then posted another clean sheet the following night in a scoreless draw at Tampa Bay.

Jorge Herrera - Charlotte Eagles (2)
Set up the opening goal in the 22nd minute and scored the other go-ahead goal in the 62nd minute in a 2-2 draw at Dayton.

WPSL NW Three Stars - Week Five

A weekly list of the top three players or performances each week in the WPSL Northwest Division.

Marina Galaz (right) | NW Sports Pics

WEEK FIVE (June 24-30)

Marina Galaz - Emerald City
The Iowa Western freshman had a huge weekend in Oregon, scoring the first three goals in Emerald City's 4-0 win in Bend Saturday and then scoring the game-winner in the 19th minute of a 2-1 victory at Eugene Sunday. Galaz came to the club along with Iowa Western assistant coach Karley Nelson, whom EC head coach Niki Taylor met at the NSCAA Convention earlier this year. She also brought players Indira Ilic and Marina Nesic.

Alia Guagni - AC Seattle
In the big showdown with division-leading Issaqauh, Guagni scored twice in an eight minute span in the second half to guide the team to a big 3-1 victory to make the playoff race tight among the three area teams.

Romina Pinna - AC Seattle
Scored the equalizer in the 15th minute and clinched the win with a second goal in stoppage time for 4-2 win. She went on to also score the equalizer at home in a showdown with division leader Issaquah Sunday as the team won 3-1.

Others considered: Nikia Evans (THUSC), Taylor Luty (THUSC), Liz Ruiz (Emerald City)

Note: Players listed alphabetically

Previous Weeks:

One: Taylor Boyer (Eugene Metro); Kennya Cordner (SRR Issaquah); Jaclyn Softli (SRR Issaquah)
Two: Brandi Dawson (THUSC); Marina Nesic (Emerald City); Amanda Perez (Issaquah)
Three: Kate Bennett (Emerald City); Valentina Giacinti (AC Seattle); Jen Stoltenberg (THUSC)
Four: Alia Guagni (AC Seattle); Jen Stoltenberg 2 (THUSC); Erin Vaughan (SRR Issaquah)

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WPSL NW Recap – Week 5: THUSC Diamonds first to clinch playoff spot heading into final week; Spokane Shine expelled

Two wins for AC Seattle this week

The Tualatin Hills United SC Diamonds have run away from the pack among the Oregon teams and clinched one of the state’s two berths in the WPSL Northwest Division playoffs with a 2-0 victory Saturday in a closely-fought contest against regional rival Westside Timbers.

The other big news of the week broke Monday afternoon with the division and league announcing that the Spokane Shine have been expelled and their final home game against SRR Issaquah will be considered a forfeit victory for the Seattle-area club.

“We are following the by-laws and expelling the Spokane Shine from the WPSL effective immediately,” said Northwest Commissioner Niki Taylor of Emerald City FC upon receiving official notice from the WPSL. “It’s not fair for Issaquah to have to spend the time and money to travel to Spokane when the Shine refused to travel last weekend.”

Lower Division Power Rankings - July 1

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The end of June proved to be a threshold week as several clubs that I have been keeping in the shadows of the rankings finally proved themselves and were moved up quite a bit. Atlanta showed they are true contenders with the 1-1 draw in Carolina against the RailHawks, whose only loss came in Atlanta earlier in the season, and San Antonio appears for real with yet another win to put themselves in the title picture.

In USL Pro, Richmond has lingered among the top few teams, but the win in Orlando City coupled with their unbeaten record was the golden ticket for the top spot. Orlando City, meanwhile, tumbles all the way down to four with the loss being coupled with the team losing key players.

Lower Division Recap: Round 13

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It was a monumental week that, however, ended up, arguably falling a little flat. Well, that is if you were the two league leaders in the NASL and USL Pro. Both were facing marquee US Open Cup moments and had key league clashes the following weekend and both the Carolina RailHawks and Orlando City saw everything virtually go up in flames.

US Open Cup Quarterfinals

With a chance to clinch the NASL Spring title on Saturday against visiting Atlanta, the RailHawks took a page out of the MLS playbook and sat a number of their key players on the road against Real Salt Lake and were promptly eliminated, 3-0, Wednesday night. Orlando City, on the other hand, gave the Chicago Fire quite a fight only to see things completely unravel in the second half as they were knocked out to the tune of a 5-1 defeat in which they finished with nine players. Full coverage at TheCup.us [+]