The goal of every W-1 team in 2000 was to dethrone the defending two-time champion Raleigh Wings, who had lost just once in their first two seasons, including playoffs. The daunting task came down to two games at the close of the season as the Wings finished undefeated once again on the regular season at 12-0-2 to advance to the W-1 Championship tournament.

The longtime W-League powerhouse Boston Renegades got the first crack at Raleigh, which played host to the W-1 Championship, in the semifinals. The Renegades, however, were unable to derail Raleigh’s three-peat campaign, falling 3-0.

In the other semifinal, the Chicago Cobras, who also went unbeaten for the second year in a row, handed the Toronto Inferno a 3-1 loss, sending them to their third title game, a rematch of the previous year’s championship.

And for the second straight year, the teams needed extra time to determine a winner. Chicago hoped to avenge the shootout losses to Raleigh in the previous year’s final and to Long Island in 1995.

The game itself was a different tale from the first encounter as the Cobras, who squandered a two-goal lead in 1999’s loss, fell behind when Raleigh’s Kim Yankowski, the three-time assist leader, opened the scoring eight minutes into the match with a 25-yard shot that dipped under the crossbar and above the outstretched hands of Cobras goalkeeper Danielle Dion, who would later prove to be the hero.

Eight minutes into the second half Chicago equalized when Canadian Women’s National Team star Charmaine Hooper sent a long ball into the path of Becky Myers for the goal.

Despite being outshot 10-4, the Cobras survived to force the penalty kick tiebreaker. But this time it was Dion, the 1999 and 2000 W-1 Goalkeeper of the Year, who came out on top. After each team scored on its opening two attempts, Dion stopped two consecutive shots while her teammates converted theirs for the victory, taking the title from the Wings’ clutches.

The 1999 finalist Springfield Sirens claimed the championship in W-2 they were unable to claim the year before in front of their fans. The club won the regular season title with an 11-1 mark and took the title with a 2-1 victory at home over the Charlotte Lady Eagles.

The Sirens, who were also among the W-League’s most successful clubs off the field, defeated the Oklahoma Outrage 5-1 in the semifinals to reach their second straight final while Charlotte advanced to the title game with a goal from Rebecca McDowell six minutes into overtime for a 2-1 victory over the Indiana Blaze.

The storylines spilled into the offseason with the 2001 launch of the professional Women’s United Soccer Association, which drafted 66 W-League players in the inaugural draft and 11 more in its supplemental draft.