The 2001 season was a landmark year for the W-League, despite the advent of the Women’s United Soccer Association. Although a large number of players moved on to WUSA, a new crop of equally talented ladies joined the fray.

In W-2 action, the Charlotte Lady Eagles continued to show its dominance in the Eastern Conference with a nearly flawless 11-1-0 season, claiming the regular season title by just one point.

Coming up shy the point were the expansion Memphis Mercury led by league-leading scorer and Most Valuable Player Missy Gregg. The first-year Mercury also posted an 11-1-0 mark and were expected to face Charlotte in the final.

Twelve points back of Memphis in third were the 2000 W-1 champion Chicago Cobras, who posed a threat to the title with their 9-2-0 record.

As expected however, Charlotte and Memphis met up in the championship match. In impressive fashion, Charlotte kept Gregg in check as Tina Murphy scored two for the Lady Eagles, including the game-winner in the 3-1 decision.

It was far from a two-team show in W-1 play last year as four teams finished with 10-win seasons. Of the four, the 13-0-1 regular season champion Maryland Pride, 12-1-1 Western Conference champion Vancouver Breakers and 10-2-2 Hampton Roads Piranhas reached the semi-finals.

The eventual champion Boston Renegades, 9-2-3 on the season, returned to their third W-1 final four appearance in four years after knocking off the Northern Conference’s second-place Toronto Inferno and regular season champion Long Island Lady Riders in the conference playoffs.

The first day of the W-1 championship saw some spectacular action from Boston and Vancouver in the semi-finals. The Renegades dominated the Pride in a 3-0 victory while the Breakers needed a 104th minute golden goal from Andrea Neil to advance on a 1-0 win over the host Piranhas.

Championship night in contrast saw a spectacular thunderstorm wash away what was to be a glorious night. Despite a two-and-a-half hour delay that resulted in the cancellation of the Third Place game, the championship was played at the Virginia Beach Sportsplex, one of the very few soccer facilities in the nation that could have withstood such a storm.

When the skies cleared, Boston was clearly the better team in the wet conditions, controlling the match from the outset with a goal and an assist from Minna Mustonen in the first 19 minutes for a 2-0 halftime lead. Vancouver’s Tammy Crawford cut the lead to one barely over a minute into the second half, but Mustonen proved too much on the night, tallying another goal and assist less than a minute apart to take the score in the 55th minute to 5-1, which would stand as the final.