July 21, 2008 PDL and W-League playoff schedule (from USL News release)
PDL, W-League playoff schedules set
Postseason action begins Tuesday with PDL Divisional Round
USL News Release
Monday, July 21, 2008
TAMPA, FL United Soccer Leagues announced Monday the Premier Development League and W-League playoff schedules set to begin midweek with the Divisional Rounds and continue with the Conference Championship tournaments on the weekend. The 19-team PDL playoff field begins play Tuesday with the W-Leagues 13-team postseason field starting Wednesday.
Two of the three PDL Central Conference Divisional Round matches are set for Tuesday, July 22 with Thunder Bay playing host to the Colorado Rapids U-23 in the Heartland and the Kalamazoo Outrage visiting the Chicago Fire in the Midwest. Toronto takes on Cleveland in the final Divisional Round match Wednesday. The three winners will advance to the Central Conference tournament hosted by the conference regular season champion Michigan Bucks July 26-27.
The Eastern Conference and Southern Conference will hold their tournaments July 25-26. The Eastern Conference tournament will be hosted by top seed Reading, who face wild card Newark in the semifinals while Brooklyn takes on Cape Cod in the other. Top seed Central Florida will host the Southern Conference tournament, taking on the defending champion Laredo Heat as the Bradenton Academics face expansion Austin, who won the Mid South in their debut.
The Western Conference will round out the PDL conference playoffs in Fresno, where the Fuego will take on Northwest winner Tacoma while Vancouver battles Southwest Division Champion San Fernando Valley July 26. The conference final is July 27.
The four conference champions advance to the PDL Semifinals the following weekend for the right to play for the league title on August 9.
The W-League playoffs open Wednesday, July 23 with the Northern and Northeast Divisional Rounds.
Toronto will play host to Laval in the Northern showdown for the right to face the Central Conferences top seed and conference tournament host FC Indiana in the conference semifinals. Northern Division Champion Ottawa will face the Midwest runner-up Chicago in the other semifinal. The semifinals are set for July 25 with the conference final July 27.
In the Northeast, Boston will travel to Long Island for their opening match Wednesday with the winner moving on to take on the 2007 W-League finalist Silverbacks in the Eastern Conference Semifinals, which will be hosted by Atlanta. The defending league champion Washington Freedom take on the Charlotte Lady Eagles in the other semifinal. The semifinals are July 25 with the conference final July 26.
With the Pali Blues winning the W-League regular season title and a berth in the league semifinals in Virginia Beach, the Western Conference final will feature second-place Vancouver playing host to the rival Seattle Sounders Saturday, July 26.
The three conference playoff champions will join the Pali Blues in Virginia Beach for the W-League Championship tournament. The league semifinals will be Thursday, July 31 with the championship game Saturday, August 2. The Final will air on Fox Soccer Channel at 11:00 pm ET with a replay the following day at 4:00 pm ET.
PDL PLAYOFF SCHEDULE Central Conference 7/22: Kalamazoo @ Chicago 5:00 Divisional Round 7/22: Colorado @ Thunder Bay 7:30 Divisional Round 7/23: Toronto @ Cleveland 7:00 Divisional Round 7/26: Divisional Winner 2 vs Divisional Winner 1 5:30 Conference Semifinal 7/26: Divisional Winner 3 vs Michigan Bucks* 7:30 Conference Semifinal 7/27: Conference Championship 7:00 Eastern Conference 7/25: Cape Cod vs Brooklyn 5:30 Conference Semifinal 7/25: Newark vs Reading* - 8:00 Conference Semifinal 7/27: Conference Championship 4:30 Southern Conference 7/25: Bradenton vs Austin 5:00 Conference Semifinal 7/25: Laredo vs Central Florida* - 7:30 Conference Semifinal 7/26: Conference Championship 7:00 Western Conference 7/26: Vancouver vs San Fernando Valley 7:30 Conference Semifinal 7/26: Fresno* vs Tacoma 10:30 Conference Semifinal 7/27: Conference Championship 10:30 W-LEAGUE PLAYOFF SCHEDULE Central Conference 7/23: Laval @ Toronto 7:30 Divisional Round 7/25: Chicago vs Ottawa 4:00 Conference Semifinal 7/25: Divisional Winner vs Indiana* 6:30 Conference Semifinal 7/27: Conference Championship TBD Eastern Conference 7/23: Boston @ Long Island 7:00 Divisional Round 7/25: Charlotte vs Washington 5:00 Conference Semifinal 7/25: Divisional Winner vs Atlanta* - 8:00 Conference Semifinal 7/26: Conference Championship 8:00 Western Conference 7/26: Seattle @ Vancouver 7:00 Conference playoff *Denotes conference tournament host ALL TIMES EASTERN
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