WPS SUPER SEMI-FINAL - PLAYOFF

Saint Louis Athletica v NJ Sky Blue FC Wed Aug 19th 7pm ET Live FSC, Webcast and audio Team1380


Saint Louis Athletica will host their first ever playoff game Wednesday night when they face Sky Blue FC in the WPS Super Semifinal at The Anheuser-Busch Soccer Park.

The winner of the match will go on into the WPS Championship game on August 22nd in Los Angeles where they will meet the regular season champions the Los Angeles Sol.

Saint Louis earned the privilege of hosting the semifinal by finishing in second place in the regular season. Sky Blue FC got to this stage by defeating the Washington Freedom on Saturday 2-1 in the 1st round playoff match.

Athletica come into the match with confidence on a 5 game unbeaten streak. English striker Eniola Aluko and Swedish defender Sara Larsson will not be available as they are in preparations with their national teams for Euro 2009.

Aluko is a big lost to Athletica as her goals have helped push them up to the top of the standings. However in the last few games forwards Sarah Walsh, previously of Sky Blue FC and Christie Welsh have kept Athletica going, with Welsh in particular scoring 3 goals in the last two matches.

Sky Blue come into the match on a wave of emotions. After the off-field problems in the last few weeks they were not fancied to even advance to the playoffs nevermind beat the Freedom to the Super Semi-Final spot.The player's are right behind their Captain and Coach Christie Rampone.
Goalkeeper Jenni Branam who was hurt when she collided with Abby Wambach on Saturday is fit to start.

This will be the fourth meeting between the teams with Saint Louis holding a 3-0-0 record. The first game was a 1-0 win for Athletica as Amanda Cinalli scored the winning goal. The second matchup was also a Saint Louis win. Elise Weber scoring a late 84th minute goal to notch a 2-1 road victory. The third match resulted in a 1-0 Athletica win. Eniola Aluko scoring the only goal.