The 2008 W-League Season was the league's 14th. The regular season began on May 10, 2008, and ended on July 20.

Pali Blues finished the season as national champions, beating FC Indiana 2-1 in the W-League Championship game in Virginia Beach, Virginia on 2 August 2008.

The Pali Blues also finished with the best regular season record in the league, winning all 12 of their matches, and finishing with a +35 goal difference.

Atlanta Silverbacks Women's striker Sarah Steinmann was the league's top scorer, with 19 goals. FC Indiana's Laura Del Rio led the league with 13 assists, while Pali Blues goalkeeper Valerie Henderson enjoyed the best goalkeeping statistics, with a goals-against average of 0.142 per game, and posting 6 shutouts.

Changes from 2007 season [edit]

Nine teams were added for the season:

Team Name	Metro Area	Location	Previous Affiliation
Carolina Dynamo	Greensboro area	Greensboro, NC	expansion
Carolina RailHawks	Research Triangle area	Cary, NC	expansion
Connecticut Passion	Hartford and New Haven areas	Berlin, CT	expansion
FC Indiana	Indianapolis area	Indianapolis, IN	previously in WPSL
Kalamazoo Outrage	Kalamazoo area	Kalamazoo, MI	expansion
Los Angeles Legends	suburban Los Angeles area	Azusa, CA	expansion
Pali Blues	Los Angeles area	Los Angeles, CA	expansion
Tampa Bay Hellenic	Tampa Bay area	Tampa, FL	expansion
West Virginia Illusion	Morgantown/North-Central West Virginia areas	Fairmont, WV	expansion

Three teams folded after the 2007 season: Mile High Edge, and San Diego Sunwaves. Cocoa Expos Women left the league for the WPSL.

Standings [edit]

Orange indicates W-League title and bye into W-League semifinals.
Blue indicates division title clinched
Green indicates playoff berth clinched

Central Conference [edit]

Midwest Division [edit]

* Fort Wayne and West Michigan did not play each other a second time, as the game could not be rescheduled before July 20 and would not have an impact on the playoffs.

Northern Division [edit]

Eastern Conference [edit]

Atlantic Division [edit]

Northeast Division [edit]

Western Conference [edit]

Playoff Format [edit]

Five teams each from the Central and Eastern Conferences, and two from the Western Conference, qualify for the playoffs.

In the Central Conference, the second and third place teams from the Northern Division play a one-leg playoff with the winner advancing to the Conference Semifinals, where they will play the Midwest Division champion. The other semifinal will have the second place team from the Midwest Division playing the Northern Division champion.

In the Eastern Conference, the second and third place teams from the Northeast Division play a one-leg playoff with the winner andvancing to play the Atlantic Division champion. The other semifinal will have the second place team from the Atlantic Division playing the Northeast Division champion.

The two teams in the Western Conference will play each other to advance to the W-League Semifinals.

The Regular Season champion, Pali Blues, receive a bye into the W-League semifinals, with the second and third place teams from the Western Conference receiving playoff berths.

Playoffs [edit]

Conference Brackets [edit]

Central Conference

Central Divisional Round

Central Semifinals

Central Championship

MW1

FC Indiana

5

NO2

Toronto Lady Lynx

0

NO3

Laval Comets

1

NO3

Laval Comets

2

MW1

FC Indiana (AET)

4

NO1

Ottawa Fury Women

3

NO1

Ottawa Fury Women

3

MW2

Chicago Gaels

2

Eastern Conference

Eastern Divisional Round

Eastern Semifinals

Eastern Championship

AT1

Atlanta Silverbacks Women

1

NE2

Long Island Rough Riders

1

NE2

Long Island Rough Riders

0

NE3

Boston Renegades

0

AT1

Atlanta Silverbacks Women

1

NE1

Washington Freedom (AET)

2

NE1

Washington Freedom (AET)

6

AT2

Charlotte Lady Eagles

5

Western Conference

	Western Finals
	W1	Vancouver Whitecaps Women	0
	W2	Seattle Sounders Women	1

Pali captured the W-League regular season title and bye into W-League semifinals, enabling Vancouver to take their spot in the Conference Playoffs, and allowing Seattle to clinch a playoff berth.

W-League Championship Bracket [edit]

Semifinal

WL

Pali Blues

2

NE1

Washington Freedom

0

Championship

WL

Pali Blues

2

Semifinal

MW1

FC Indiana

1

MW1

FC Indiana

1

W2

Seattle Sounders Women

0

Consolation

NE1

Washington Freedom

2

W1

Seattle Sounders Women

0

Divisional Rounds [edit]

July 23, 2008 7:00 ET	Boston Renegades	0 – 1	Long Island Rough Riders	St. Anthony's High School South Huntington, New York Attendance: 387 Referee: Samir Souidi (USA)
		(Report)	DeRosa

July 23, 2008 7:30 ET	Laval Comets	2 – 0	Toronto Lady Lynx	Centennial Park Stadium Toronto, Ontario Attendance: 344 Referee: Michael Izzo (CAN)
	Gagné  8'  40' Walsh  89'	(Report)	Chapman  40'  89' Afonso  66'

Conference Semifinals [edit]

July 25, 2008 4:00 ET	Chicago Gaels	2 – 3	Ottawa Fury Women	Varsity Soccer Complex West Lafayette, Indiana Attendance: 50 Referee: Tony Deldis (USA)
	Mutters  12' Spacht  26' Trevillian  74' Maynard  89' (PK)	(Report)	Taylor  12'  62' (PK) Powell  15'

July 25, 2008 5:00 ET	Charlotte Lady Eagles	5 – 6 (AET)	Washington Freedom	RE/MAX Greater Atlanta Stadium Atlanta, Georgia Attendance: 152 Referee: William Deland (USA)
	Rife  11' Schmedes  29' Murphy  59'  107' Lyons  66'	(Report)	Welsh  2'  16'  103' Keller  22' Moros  70' (PK) Janss  97'

July 25, 2008 6:30 ET	Laval Comets	1 – 5	FC Indiana	Varsity Soccer Complex West Lafayette, Indiana Attendance: 128 Referee: Andrew Scott (USA)
	Gagné  55' (PK)	(Report)	Hamel  14' Sesselmann  16'  25'  27' Parker  63' Phewa  72'

July 25, 2008 8:00 ET	Long Island Rough Riders	0 – 1	Atlanta Silverbacks Women	RE/MAX Greater Atlanta Stadium Atlanta, Georgia Attendance: 485 Referee: Patrick Baker (USA)
	Fitzgerald (coach)  82' Speck  90'	(Report)	Latham  51' Buff  70' Harbrueger  90'

Conference Finals [edit]

July 26, 2008 7:00 ET	Seattle Sounders Women	1 – 0	Vancouver Whitecaps Women	Swangard Stadium Burnaby, British Columbia Attendance: 4,991 Referee: Darci Kurse (USA)
	Baysa  67'  84'	(Report)

July 26, 2008 8:00 ET	Washington Freedom	2 – 1 (AET)	Atlanta Silverbacks Women	RE/MAX Greater Atlanta Stadium Atlanta, Georgia Attendance: 428 Referee: Tony Russo (USA)
	Golebiowski  48' Welsh  77'  90' Andrzejewski  118'	(Report)	Bobo  16' Latham  23' Phillips  73'

July 27, 2008 6:30 ET	Ottawa Fury Women	3 – 4 (AET)	FC Indiana	Varsity Soccer Complex West Lafayette, Indiana Referee: (USA)
	Kennedy  27' Milyak  53' (OG) Hance  65' Avner  85' Taylor  116' (PK) Raber  120'	(Report)	Sesselmann  15' Nault  63' Del Rio  90+2'  96' Phewa  101'

W-League Semifinals [edit]

July 31, 2008 5:00 PM ET	Seattle Sounders Women	0 – 1	FC Indiana	Foster Field Virginia Beach, Virginia Referee: Debbie Coleman (USA)
			Phewa  16' Leyva  87'

July 31, 2008 8:00 PM ET	Washington Freedom	0 – 2	Pali Blues	Foster Field Virginia Beach, Virginia Attendance: 427 Referee: Meredith Hackett (USA)
	Welsh  76'		Adams  26'  82'

W-League Third-Place Game [edit]

August 2, 2008 4:30 PM ET	Seattle Sounders Women	0 – 2	Washington Freedom	Foster Field Virginia Beach, Virginia Referee: Shawn Fitch (USA)
			Welsh  11'  40' Huffman  76' Andrzejewski  86'

W-League Finals [edit]

August 2, 2008 7:30 PM ET	FC Indiana	1 – 2	Pali Blues	Foster Field Virginia Beach, Virginia Attendance: 558 Referee: Sandra Serafini (USA)
	O'Rourke  47'		Wilson  49' LePeilbet  83' Pasqui  88'

External links [edit]

• USL historical stats

We're sorry, but there's no news about "2008 W-League" right now.