Parker takes another shot at title
Former W-League MVP among 25 alumni in WPS Final
TAMPA, FL – It’s been a long, difficult path for Kelly Parker. A long-time player on the bubble of the Canadian National Team pool, the 2004 W-League MVP is headed to her fourth championship game in five years still looking for a title. Meanwhile, seven other players in the Women’s Professional Soccer Final Saturday already boast a championship in the W-League, including three from the 2008 Pali Blues.
Seventeen of the 25 players with W-League experience on the rosters of Sky Blue FC and the Los Angeles Sol come into Saturday’s WPS Final having played in the W-League’s championship event, which prior to this year had been a Final Four weekend. A dozen of them reached the championship game with seven winning it all.
Among the former W-League champions are the Pali Blues and Sol trio of Liz Bogus (LA), Val Henderson (LA) and Mele French (SB). Henderson was the winning goalkeeper in the effort and Liz Bogus played the full 90 in the 2-1 victory over the FC Indiana Lionesses, who also have three players in the WPS finale – Lauren Sesselman, Julianne Sitch and Kelly Parker of Sky Blue.
The story of Kelly Parker, though, is the one that truly stands out among the 22 likely starters to take the field at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California in two days. Founded in 2000, the Ottawa Fury hovered around the .500 mark its first three seasons of play. Then entered Parker. In her first season with the team she posted 13 goals and six assists, finishing in a tie for first in points and tied for third in goals while guiding the club to an 11-2-1 season.
The Fury upset unbeaten and defending two-time champion Boston in the Division Final and took the conference title to reach the W-League Championship weekend.
That’s when the misery began.
It was the first of four straight trips to the W-League’s final four for the Fury. None of which ended with the trophy.
In 2003, Ottawa was blanked 3-0 in the semifinal by the Chicago Cobras, which featured current teammate Sitch, the second goal scorer in the game. They would fall 4-1 to Seattle in the consolation match the following day with Parker tallying the assist on the club’s lone strike.
Ottawa took a step further the following year, claiming Third Place in 2004 while hosting the championship event. LA Sol’s Manya Makoski set up French international Marinette Pichon’s second and game-winning goal as Ottawa fell in the semifinal 2-1 to the New Jersey Wildcats. They rebounded the following day to top Bogus’ Chicago Cobras 1-0, partially avenging the previous year’s defeat. New Jersey would fall in penalties of a 0-0 Final to the Vancouver Whitecaps.
Parker and the Fury made it to the championship game for the first time in 2005, downing Central Florida 2-1 in overtime of the semifinal. But the host Wildcats proved too much in the Final with Parker’s current teammates Kacey White (penalty and assist) and Heather O’Reilly (goal) leading New Jersey to a 3-0 victory. The Sky Blue trio will face the winning Wildcats keeper, Karina LeBlanc of the Sol, in the WPS championship Saturday.
Having advanced a step each of the previous years, 2006 appeared to be destiny for Ottawa, but the Fury and Parker’s hopes were dashed yet again after advancing 2-1 in the semifinal against Charlotte. The host Whitecaps handed them a second straight 3-0 championship defeat with Martina Franko of the Sol tallying a goal and an assist from her defensive position for Vancouver.
Parker’s final season with Ottawa in 2007 saw the eventual W-League champion Washington Freedom end the Fury’s semifinal appearance streak, posting a 1-0 win in the conference final.
The four-time All-League selection moved onto the FC Indiana Lionesses in 2008, but suffered the same fate, losing in a heartbreaker that saw the club’s lead disappear in the final seven minutes of the match, making Parker 0-3 in Finals, coming up short for the fifth time W-League championship events.
“To have the game in our hands, to be able to see the trophy right in front of us, this just hurts a lot,” said an obviously dejected Parker after the loss. “With the 1-0 goal lead we played a little bit safer but the momentum swing at the end of the game was too much to overcome.”
Kelly Parker was arguably the best player on the field that night, making tireless runs up and down the field and was a constant thorn in the side of the Pali Blues.
“I have never seen Kelly play this well,” added Blues head coach and current Sol General Manager Charlie Naimo, who also coached the Wildcats against Parker in 2004 and 2005. “I can’t say enough good things about her.”
On Saturday, she faces another Naimo-built team for a fourth time in her career. But with former Naimo disciples and W-League champions O’Reilly and White on her side, perhaps the result will be different.
Parker’s Sky Blue side has already overcome the adversity of a tumultuous season in which two coaches have left, leaving captain and former W-League player Christie Rampone in charge, to make the playoffs at 7-8-5. As the number four seed they went on the road and upset the third-seeded Washington Freedom (8-7-5) last Saturday 2-1 and four days later on Wednesday night took a narrow 1-0 decision over second place St Louis Athletica (10-6-4) after posting just two wins (2-6-2) all season on the road and going 0-5-1 against the two sides on the campaign with the lone draw against Washington.
The game can be seen at 3:30 pm ET on FSN. Check local listings.
In The Game
http://nukesoccer.com/parker-meets-leblanc-in-inaugral-wps-championship/”>Kelly Parker vs Karina Leblanc
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