Connect with us

News

Wednesday Roundup: NWSL sets playoff dates, times

Also in today’s Roundup, the 2028 Olympic Games are heading to Los Angeles

The 2017 NWSL Championship will kick off at 4:30 p.m. EDT on October 14 at Orlando City Stadium. (photo by Mark Thor/courtesy of Orlando Pride)

NWSL announced the dates and times for all three playoff games today. The semifinals will be held October 7 in Portland and October 8 in North Carolina. Both games will be aired life on Lifetime beginning at 3:30 p.m. EDT. The NWSL Championship will be Saturday, October 14 at Orlando City Stadium at 4:30 p.m. EDT.

The Courage and Thorns clinched home semifinals over the weekend which helped the league lock in dates and times for semifinal weekend. It is the second consecutive season the Thorns will host their semifinal. A year ago they were upset 4-3 in extra time by the Western New York Flash. The Flash went on to win the NWSL Championship and were later sold to become the North Carolina Courage.

The race to fill out the semifinal program is down to three teams for two spots. The Orlando Pride need one point and the Chicago Red Stars two points to wrap up playoff berths. If either team fails to do so, the Reign can sneak in the side door with wins in their last two matches. But any result other than a win for the Reign will hand pots to the Pride and Red Stars.

The regular Lifetime announcing team of Jenn Hildreth and Aly Wagner will call all three playoff matches. They will fly out of Portland after the Saturday semifinal and arrive late Saturday night in North Carolina.

Olympic games headed to Los Angeles in ‘28

The Summer Olympics are heading to Los Angeles in 2028. The long time inevitability became official on Wednesday with the 2024 games heading to Paris. It will mark the first time the Summer Games will be in the United States since Atlanta 1996.

The Atlanta games marked the debut of women’s soccer in the Olympics. A full international tournament—unlike the men who ouse U-23s and select overage players—the first event was won by the United States. Played before packed houses in and around Atlanta, the ’96 Olympics laid the groundwork for the 1999 World Cup which in turn laid the groundwork for the explosion of women’s soccer in this century.

Los Angeles will be the home of two Major League Soccer teams beginning next season with the debut of LAFC. The LA Galaxy are an MLS original. Both will have soccer stadiums perfect for Olympic soccer.

The U.S. has won four of the six gold medals with a silver in 2000 and a quarterfinal exit in 2016. The 2020 Games will be in Tokyo.

Comments

Your account

MORE EXTRA

More in News