Dallas Diamonds Eliminated; Amazing!

(Note:  The Dallas Diamonds photos posted today are taken from their game at Austin this season, not from the playoff game in San Diego.)

Well, I predicted the Dallas Diamonds would defeat the San Diego Surge in their semi-final game yesterday (Saturday, July 21).   Statistically, they looked to me to have the edge - see my post And Now There are Four.  But statistics are difficult to read because teams play in different divisions with different levels of competition. The league seeded San Diego above the Dallas and that turned out to be right.

The final score Saturday was San Diego 56, Dallas 29.  Remarkable.  Dallas has been totally dominating all opponents, averaging 70+ points per game and giving up only 7.  Who would imagine anyone would hold them to 29 and score 56 against them? 

The other winner in Saturday's semi-final games was the Chicago Force, winning 35-34 over the Boston Militia.  

Rubi Reyna said in her profile published in this blog last week Outlaw  "Offense sells tickets, defense wins ballgames."  The outcome of this season supports her comment. 

Defense wins ballgames.  Dallas had a great defense.

The two teams who will play in the championship game led the league in defense - the Surge was number one allowing only 2 points per game and the Force number two allowing 6 points per game.  It is a compliment to the Diamonds that they scored 29 against the number one defense in the WFA.  The Diamonds ranked number three on defense, allowing 7 points per game.

Dallas offense was the best in the league this season.

On offense, the Diamonds, Force, Surge, and Militia respectively ranked one through four in points scored.   So the teams who did best during the season are the teams who survived to the semi-finals.  No big surprise there.   

The top seeded teams, who had home field advantage, won all of the playoff games.  Which suggests either the seeding was quite accurate or home field advantage really is significant. 

The season now comes down to one game, the San Diego Surge versus the Chicago Force.   I'm reluctant to select a winner but I can't resist.  Neither team will have a home field advantage because the game will be played at a neutral site.  Through the season, Chicago ranked ahead of San Diego on offense - the two teams finished  second and third with Chicago scoring 56 points per game and San Diego 54.

On defense, San Diego led the league allowing 2 points per game.  Chicago was second allowing 6. 

In their semi-final games, San Diego won decisively (56-29) over a strong Dallas team.  Chicago edged out a slightly less impressive Boston team (35-34). 

Now you know as much as I do about the final game.  I'm picking San Diego.  Because they ranked higher on defense - Rubi is right, defense wins ballgames, and because they defeated a great Dallas team.  If they can beat the Diamond, they can beat anyone.

If you'd like to do your own analysis, check out the Women's Football Alliance website and in particular study the statistics section.  It is interesting.

The final game will be played August 4 at the home field of the Pittsburgh Steelers and will be televised on ESPN 3.  You can get details on the WFA website (link above).

Cookie will agree, the Dallas defense was outstanding in 2012.

  Let's congratulate the Diamonds. I found them to be a class group of athletes and an outstanding football team.