"Credit to Western New York
they brought their absolute best tonight in a very emotional, fast and exciting game," said Parsons, who replaced Riley as the Portland coach after taking Washington to the playoffs in 2014 and 2015.
"They deserved to be in this playoff, they deserve to be moving on because when you are at your very best I think you put yourself in the place to win a game. I thought we started very strong and it
was a crazy game, some crazy things went on."
Oct. 2 in Portland, Ore.
Portland 3 WNY Flash 4 (OT). Sinclair
(Reynolds) 39, Sonnett 78, Horan (Brynjarsdottir) 106+; Mewis 16, Doniak (McDonald) 38, Williams 98, Williams (Mewis) 104.
Portland -- Betos; Klingenberg, Menges, Sonnett, Reynolds (Raso
105), Heath, Henry, Horan, Long, Sinclair, Nadim (Brynjarsdottir 71).
WNY Flash -- D'Angelo; Dahlkemper, Erceg, Hinkle, Kennedy, Eddy, Mewis, Zerboni (Hamilton 96), Williams, McDonald
(Hahn 116), Doniak (Smith 69).
Att.: 20,086
The third time
was a charm for Washington, which advanced to the NWSL final for the first time when it outlasted Chicago in overtime.
Nigerian Francisca Ordega scored the winner in the 111th
minute, but the goal was set up by Christine Nairn, who played a one-two with Canadian Diana Matheson to break free and feed Ordega at the far post.
For the Red Stars, it was
their second straight semifinal exit.
Sept. 30 in Boyds, Md.
Washington 2 Chicago 1 (OT). Goals: Krieger (Zadorsky 36),
Ordega (Nairn) 111; Press (Short) 81.
Washington -- Wys, Church, Dydasco, Krieger, Zadorsky, Huster, Nairn, Banini (Stengel 89), Lohman (Matheson 71), Dunn, Ordega (Oyster 115)
Chicago -- Naeher, Gilliland, Johnson, Johnston, Short, Colaprico, DiBernardo, Comeau (Da Costa 71; Naughton 117), Huerta, Press, Walls (McCaffrey 66).
Att.: 4,249.
I am waiting anxiously for comments by the experts. I found both teams exhibited tremendous fighting spirit, especially Portland. Amazing - the attendance! From a technical and tactical point of view, however, this game was extremely disappointing, somewhat reminiscent of poorly coached college or high school matches MANY years ago. With all those national team players from the US and other nations I had expected much better. Or was it because I had just watched the marvelous Spanish National Team in the U 17 Women's World Cup?