July 10, 2026
West Region Playoffs semifinal action kicks off Saturday at the Davis Legacy Soccer Complex in Davis, Calif. featuring two of the league’s founding clubs, San Francisco Nighthawks and California Storm are the only clubs to have played in every WPSL season since its founding in 1998. Spokane Shadow and San Francisco Nighthawks kickoff the action in the first of two semifinal matches at 4 p.m. PDT followed by five-time WPSL champion California Storm taking on So Cal Union FC at 7 p.m. PDT.
Making its third consecutive West Region Semifinal appearance, Spokane Shadow looks to advance past the regional playoff round for the first time in its six-season WPSL history. Spokane enters this year’s Regional Semifinals a 5-0-1, finishing the Pac Northwest regular season tied with Portland Thorns FC II on 15 points.
Spokane’s sole loss came midweek of Week Six in the historic Providence Park in downtown Portland. In the return match two weeks later, Spokane avenged the 5-1 loss it suffered in Portland with a 3-2 win with late-game heroics from Quinn Mueller, an incoming freshman at the University of Idaho, whose late-match game winner sent the Spokane faithful at Whitworth University into a frenzy. Delani Walker opened scoring for Portland in the season-turning match.
Walker led the club and finished tied for the Pac Northwest Conference Golden Boot with six goals in five appearances, scoring in every match in which she appeared, including four goals over a three-match Week Six that earned her West Region Offensive Player of the Week honors. Spokane finished second in the Pac Northwest Conference on defense, allowing 10 goals. Fort Lewis College goalkeeper Lilliana Brinkmeier led Spokane’s young goalkeeping corps making four starts earning two clean sheets.
In 2025 Spokane fell in the West Region Playoffs semifinal 3-2 to host, So Cal Union FC.
Central Valley Division champions San Francisco Nighthawks return to the West Region Playoffs for the third time in the last five seasons as a wildcard on the strength of its 5-1-2 division record. San Francisco fell just short of the NorCal Conference title this year—the club’s 28th in the WPSL, falling to California Storm in the conference championship last Friday.
Going 5-1-2 in Central Valley Division play, San Francisco led the division with 22 goals in the club’s eight divisional fixtures. Sulma Plancarte, who returned to the Nighthawks after a stint with Atlas FC in Liga MX Femenil, led the club and the division with seven goals.
Joining Plancarte in Nighthawks prolific attack was Week Five West Region Offensive Player of the Week Isabella Flocchini with five goals on the season, and Sydney Grundland-Lanuza, who had the distinction of earning both offensive and defensive regional player of the week honors: defensive in Week Four and offensive in Week Seven.
Led by defenders Kelly Gerwitz, who was named National Defender of the Week for Week Seven, and Swarthmore College junior Aminah Evans, who took West Region Defensive Player of the Week for Week Eight honors.
This is San Francisco’s third postseason appearance in the last five seasons, and fourth overall, advancing to the West Region Playoff Semifinal in 2009, 2022, and 2024.
A founding member of the WPSL in 1998, and the winningest club in league history, California Storm is making its 17th West Region Playoffs Semifinal appearance, winning seven West Region titles and five WPSL championships. Storm has appeared in three of the last four WPSL Championships, winning in 2022 and 2024.
Storm enters the 2026 West Region Playoffs unbeaten in WPSL division and conference play, going 9-1-0 to walk away with the Sacramento Valley Division by 11 points, outscoring opponents 40 to three. As division champions, Storm traveled to San Mateo last Friday to face Central Valley Division champions, San Francisco Nighthawks in the NorCal Conference Final.
Ciara Wilson put Storm on the board in the 11th minute, and Kennedy Mayo and Jordyn Wickes then each tallied braces as Storm rolled over the Nighthawks for the conference title and the honor of hosting the West Region Playoffs. Mayo and academy player, Camryn Dillingham, led the club with five goals each on the season, followed by Week One National Offensive Player of the Week Dalia Asad, a freshman at the University of San Francisco in the fall, with four goals.
Goalkeeper Abbie Faingold backstops the division-leading defense that allowed a paltry three goals all season, posting six clean sheets in nine starts.
So Cal Union FC returns to the West Region Playoffs for a second consecutive year after winning the SoCal Conference in dramatic fashion, scoring in second half added time to win the conference championship match 1-0 over Coastal Division winners, MISS KICK FC. Ciara Caringal, a junior at Westmont College, scored the winner in the 90+2 minute to continue So Cal Union FC’s season.
Going 4-2-2 in Plymouth Division play, So Cal Union FC finished two points out of first place in the division behind Rebels Soccer Club, which opted out of postseason play, setting the stage for So Cal Union FC’s dramatic win over the Coastal Division champs.
California State San Marcos junior Brittany Brown led the side in scoring with three goals, followed by University of California Riverside junior Selena Hernandez and University of San Diego senior Mikayla Abrenica with two goals each on the season.
The three leading goalscorers accounted for seven of the club’s 19 goals scored over nine fixtures. Goalkeeper Elizabeth Ludwig, a senior at Westmont College, kept three clean sheets, and has not conceded a goal in 181 minutes.
After entering the league in 2018, So Cal Union FC made its first postseason appearance in 2025, advancing to the West Region Final where it fell to 2025 WPSL runners-up, California Storm after beating Spokane Shadow 3-2 in the semifinal round.
