Nighthawks Complete Tough 2006 WPSL Campaign
July 28, 2006

Nighthawk Jessie Beers-Altman

San Francisco, CA - The San Francisco Nighthawks completed the 2006 WPSL season in 6th place (3-9-2) while playing in, arguably, the WPSL’s toughest division. The WPSL Western Division was won by Ajax Women of America (Los Angeles) and was followed, by half a game, by WFC SeaLions (San Diego); each of those teams had only one loss on the season with San Diego also logging a tie.

The WPSL Championship weekend is under way with the field of 39 teams reduced to the final four. The championship is being played in Draper, Utah this year, home of the WPSL Utah Spiders. L.A. and San Diego have advanced to the final four in opposite brackets, meaning they could meet for the championship on Saturday, July 29th.

California Storm of Sacramento, a formidable team who is currently the eighth ranked women’s club team in the world, also had ten wins but lost to L.A. twice and San Diego once (the two teams tied in their other meeting). The Storm’s ten wins was only good enough for third place in the tough Western Division (last year, the Storm played in the WPSL championship game losing to FC Indiana, 3-4).

The Nighthawks climb one place from last year and showed some positive signs in their final game against the WFC SeaLions (10-1-1), holding them to a 1-1 draw in the first half before succumbing to a final score of 2-4 at Kezar Stadium.

The Nighthawks, charter members of the WPSL, are committed to fielding a more competitive WPSL team in 2007 with hopes of challenging the WPSL Western Division leaders and being competitive with other top U.S. and international teams. Nighthawks General Manager, Jill Lounsbury, was recently quoted as saying that the Hawks will be looking at all aspects of the team during the offseason and is committed to recruiting more top college and post college players.

The Nighthawks, who play year around, begin defense of their GGWSL (Golden Gate Women’s Soccer League) Premier Division title in September, the Hawks are reigning champions of the Premier Division.