NWSL semifinal review: One-two punch

For Kansas City, it was a chance to right the wrong from a season ago. For Portland, a chance to repeat. For Seattle, a chance to move one step closer to completing the worst-to-first run. For Washington, a chance at the ultimate upset. The cruelty of soccer -- and math -- though, is that only 50 percent of those things could happen. The other 50 would be left as could haves or should haves or what could have beens and Paul Riley that scarf is not magic like Cindy Parlow Cone’s hat and it is 100 degrees what are you doing?

Ultimately, it was the regular season’s top two teams -- Kansas City and Seattle -- that made it though. The Blues got a second chance at Portland and the Thorns hardly put up a fight in The Great Rematch That Actually Turned Out to Be Pretty One-Sided, as FCKC rolled to a 2-0 win on Saturday. And on Sunday, top seed Seattle went down against Washington before pulling out that trademark Reign comeback, grabbing the 2-1 win over a Spirit side that was soclose.

Kansas City wins, Paul Riley complains
As a man wearing a dress shirt, tie and scarf in 100-degree heat, Paul Riley was understandably extra-grouchy following his team’s 2-0 loss to Kansas City. Riley wasted no time post-match railing against what he felt wasn’t a big enough crowd or a nice enough field, and while conditions at Durwood Stadium weren’t great -- temperatures reached well over 100 on the turf -- they were hardly the worst things on display Saturday. For that, Riley would have had to look inward, to the place where his Portland team forced Nicole Barnhart into making a grand total of one save -- in the entire game -- as the Thorns were shut out by Kansas City in their semifinal match.

Amy Rodriguez scored in the 65th minute to give the Blues the 1-0 lead and Kansas City spent much of the remaining 25 minutes playing a very expensive game of keep-away, as Portland struggled to even maintain possession, let alone muster anything resembling an attack. Lauren Holiday, who also had the assist on Rodriguez’s goal, doubled Kansas City’s lead in the 87th minute, but by then the Thorns and Paul Riley already looked resigned to the fact that they wouldn’t be getting the chance to repeat as champions and that they had worn a long sleeve, tie, scarf combo in triple-digit heat for nothing, respectively.

Washington tries to upset Seattle, Seattle has none of it
Washington came close. Twice. Looking for an upset, the Spirit took a 1-0 lead over heavy favorite and top seed Seattle thanks to a Veronica Perez goal in the 65th minute. Perez had entered the game just four minutes earlier, and immediately made an impact, beating Hope Solo from close range to break the deadlock of a previously back-and-forth game.

Washington didn’t have the lead for long though, with Toni Pressley giving Seattle the gift of a PK in the 72nd minute after handling the ball in the box. Kim Little, who already won the Golden Boot and is a frontrunner for league MVP, coolly put away the penalty -- twice, after she was forced to retake the shot -- sending Ashlyn Harris the wrong way to tie things at 1-1. But because this is the NWSL, there could not be just one penalty kick. Because having one penalty kick in an NWSL game is like just eating one Oreo, and not a thing. And don’t try to pull that “Little had to shoot twice” business, because that’s like eating one Oreo and then just licking the cream out of a second one and also not a thing and you should just stop and admit that you are going to eat the whole column of Oreos and there is going to be a second PK. In the 78th minute, thanks to a Kendall Fletcher handball, Diana Matheson stepped to the spot, only to have Hope Solo take the entire package of cookies away with one of the saves of the season, stopping both this horrible metaphor and Matheson’s shot -- the latter with a deflection into the crossbar and out.

With things still level and Washington still trying to figure out what happened to all those cookies that were just right there a minute ago, Seattle began to press forward, eventually finding the game-winner off the foot of Megan Rapinoe. In the 82nd minute, Rapinoe stripped Pressley of the ball and found herself with an open look on goal. With only Harris to beat, Rapinoe tucked a shot beyond the outstretched arms of the Spirit keeper and just inside the post to give the Reign the 2-1 lead and complete the comeback.

Seattle will host FC Kansas City in the championship match next Sunday, the first 1-2 final in league history.

Scores
Saturday
FC Kansas City 2 - 0 Portland Thorns FC

Sunday
Seattle Reign FC 2 - 1 Washington Spirit