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Tuesday, July 24

EPPING, NEW HAMPSHIRE – The four teams that fought their way to the inaugural Women’s USL Super-20 League final in 2006 are back for more. The defending Super-20 League Champion Washington Freedom, currently at 8-0-0 and allowing only one goal this season are the heavy favorites to repeat while the only team ever to defeat the Maryland based Super-20 heavyweights, New Jersey’s Parsippany SC (7-2-0), will surely have something to say about that when the two teams meet next week at the 2007 league finals.

 North American Finals Information

Winning the New England Division for the second straight season was MPS U20 (8-2-0). Host club Seacoast United, always tough on their home pitch, round out the clubs present at both versions of the Super-20 Final.

“We look forward to the competition at the Super-20 North American Finals,” said Washington Freedom Head Coach Winn Puffer. “We were happy to see the size of the event raised to eight teams because playing against the best teams in the country is great for the development of our players. This event gives us a good indication of where we stand as an organization.”

“Depending on the performance of our W-League side this weekend in Ottawa, Chante Sandiford, the 2006 Super-20 League MVP may be with us,” added Puffer. “She serves as the top reserve on our W-League side. If the W-League side wins we will have to make due without her.”

Besides Sandiford, a goalkeeper who made several key stops in a penalty-kick shootout final against Parsippany in last season’s finale, the Freedom returns the majority their players from last season’s championship side.

“We always looked at this age group as the foundation for our senior teams,” said Puffer. “Even when we did not have a Super-20 team, this age group served as a reserve team to our senior division team. Now that we have that club development structure in place, adding the U13 and U15 Super Y-League teams this past season, we are able to cultivate players and allow them this stepping stone up to our senior teams.”

The newest obstacle for the Freedom in 2007 will be the South Atlantic Division. The representatives, FC Frederick (5-1-1) and the Hampton Roads Piranhas (7-1-0) will mix up the league finals with competition from a region with the deepest history of women’s soccer in the world.

Last season, the league finals revolved around the Freedom/Parsippany Mid Atlantic feud. Those two clubs will certainly impact these finals, but with the 2007 Mid Atlantic expansion to the current 11-team format, fellow Mid Atlantic competitors Quickstrike FC (7-2-1) and the Brooklyn Knights (6-2-2) will aggress this eight team fight for a North American Finals Championship.

“We were quite surprised to see Parsippany had two losses during the regular season,” said Puffer. “That side of the division must have been very strong.”

“Quickstrike FC, who also qualified for the North American Finals was our strongest competition during the regular season,” said Arthur Wells, Technical Director of Parsippany SC. “In the first match we won handily 6-1, pulling away in the second half. One week later, Quickstrike turned the tables on us, 4-1. They took the initiative with two early goals.”

About the Women’s Super-20 North American Finals
Four teams larger than the inaugural finals, the 2007 Super-20 North American Finals is already better in size and competition. The teams are slated to arrive in Epping, New Hampshire on Wednesday, August 1 for team check-in. Group competition begins the following morning at Seacoast United Soccer Complex. Group play continues through Saturday. The 2007 Super-20 League North American Finals will be held Sunday.