Independence end season in second, prepare for Saturday's playoffs

The Independence's dream of finishing first in Women's Professional Soccer ended when they dropped their regular-season finale to magicJack, 2-1, on Sunday afternoon in Boca Raton, Fla.

With the loss, the Independence finished the regular season in second place in the WPS standings with 36 points and will host the WPS playoff semifinal on Saturday at 4 p.m. at PPL Park.

The Independence will face either magicJack or the Boston Breakers in the semifinal after those two teams square off in first-round playoff action on Wednesday.

The winner of Saturday's semifinal will face the first-place Western New York Flash in the championship game to be played Aug. 27 at 4 p.m. at the Flash.

Both teams opened the lightning-delayed game with plenty of energy, but it was magicJack that got on the scoreboard first.

Ella Masar broke down the defense with a pass to Lisa DeVanna who was able to touch it to the right and slip the ball past Independence goalkeeper Nicole Barnhart, giving magicjack a 1-0 lead.

It was another Masar-to-DeVanna connection in the 68th minute that put magicJack up by 2-0.

In the 78th minute, Philadelphia began to pick up momentum. Amy Rodriguez found the back of the net for the Independence off a pass from Laura del Rio.

The Independence, down by 2-1, kept pounding the ball into the box in the final 15 minutes of play, but they were unable to find the back of the net.

The Independence outshot magicJack, 10-7.

MagicJack once again played without World Cup goalkeeper Hope Solo, who is still recovering from a shoulder injury.