December 24, 2009 THE YEAR’S TOP STORIES - NO. 8 Sol win regular season title
Karina LeBlanc was one of four Sol players to make the WPS Best XI. Linda Cuttone/Sports Vue Images
The Los Angeles Sol started the WPS season at the top of the table, and ended it in the same position and that gives the team the eighth spot on LASoccerNews’s list of the ten best stories of 2009.
No team had been able to knock the Sol out of first place since they began the season with a 2-0 home win over the Washington Freedom. As Regular Season Champions, they hosted the first-ever WPS Championship Game at the Home Depot Center and fell to Cinderella champion Sky Blue FC on goal by Heather O’Reilly.
The Sol jumped out to top of the tables and clinched a playoff spot on June 29. They struggled a bit the rest of the way, but still finished the inaugural season with a 12-3-5 record and 41 points, well ahead of second place Saint Louis Athletica.
Led by the league’s leading scorer, MVP and eventual FIFA World Player of the Year, Marta, the Sol outscored their opponents by a 27-10 margin. Only Washington scored more goals, 32, but they also allowed 32.
Canadian goalkeeper Karina LeBlanc shone in nets for the Sol, posting a league best 0.53 goals against average while registering a league high 12 shutouts. It’s not that she wasn’t tested either, coming up with 74 saves, third most in the league behind Chicago’s Carolina Johnsson and Saint Louis’ Hope Solo.
Marta, LeBlanc, defender Shannon Boxx and midfielder Camille Abily all made the league’s First XI.
Despite all the regular season success, the Sol struggled late in the season and after getting the automatic seed and home field advantage for the championship game, fell to Sky Blue, a club that underwent two coaches changes during the season and barely scraped into the playoffs.
