By CHRISTA MANN

Week 11 in Women's Pro Soccer began Wednesday when the L.A. Sol tied the Chicago Red Stars 1-1 in the first-ever WPS midweek match-up of the season.  Regular league play will soon continue with three Sunday games featuring both teams from the midweek match-up and all others minus the Boston Breakers.

In Game One, St. Louis hosts New Jersey's Sky Blue FC in the battle between the two bottom teams; then, the Sol and Washington Freedom meet again (FSC 6:00 PM ET)for the first time since the inaugural game of WPS, and the Chicago Red Stars travel to the Bay Area in the final game of Week 11.

Both the Red Stars and Sol will enter into their second contests in four days as Chicago looks to finally earn its first win since beating the Boston Breakers six games ago.  However Los Angeles is still holding steady at the top of the table with nine points (three wins) ahead of the closest competitor.

New Jersey is coming off its second win of the season and is tied with its opponent, St. Louis, for the bottom spot.  A win for either team in this one will finally earn one club an undeniable advantage and will advance it in the standings.

St. Louis and New Jersey kick things off in the Sunday's first  game as the Athletica's Head Coach George Marcellos calls for improved communication among his back four, tighter marking on the more dangerous, opposing attackers, and better finishing from the Athletica forwards.  In addition, the Brazilian coach also stressed that maintaining possession is the club's number one concern right now and that passing to feet is in need of sharpening.

The Athletica enters the game after falling 2-0 to the Sol last week while Sky Blue FC enters the match after defeating Boston 2-0. 

SBFC's Natasha Kai is finally showing signs of the player everyone expected her to be in this league after last week leaving everything on the field and contributing a goal and several other dangerous New Jersey opportunities.  SBFC interim head coach, Kelly Lindsey, is leading the club for her third week and is looking to continue the club's optimistic change of pace with a second win in consecutive weeks. 

The weekend rolls on as Game Two  showcases a rematch of the very first game in WPS history.  The L.A. Sol and Washington Freedom initially met on Sunday, March 29 for the first-ever WPS game of this inaugural 2009 season.

The Sol took the 2-1 advantage in the season opener and has continued to dominate the league over these 11 weeks.  Washington, on the other hand, has had a bit of a rocky start but has emerged undefeated over the most recent five weeks.  For the Freedom, consistent playmaking from internationals Lisa DeVanna of Australia and Sonia Bompastor of France have created much of the team's final third success.  Plus the American out of the back in Cat Whitehill provides deep service into the box which typically earns and finishes chance for the Washington club.

The Sol have just come off a tough midweek battle ending tied at  1-1 with the Chicago Red Stars. Prior to Wednesday's stalemate, L.A. had three shutout wins and scored five goals in three three consecutive games.

It should be a pretty even match-up between the Sol and the Freedom as each team utilizes some specific strengths that have recently come into the forefront.  Washington's DeVanna has done well to hold the ball as a target, to make slicing runs in behind the defense, and to finish off open opportunities while Internationals Aya Miya of Japan, and Camile Abily of France are beginning to come into their own for the Sol.  Marta has been really quiet in the scoring column lately, so is it possible for the Freedom to hold her off for another week?

Win, lose, or draw, the outcome of this game will do nothing to the L.A. Sol in league standings.  If the Freedom can earn the win, it will make a statement that Washington is a top team team. However, the win will unfortunately still leave the second placed Freedom trailing six points behind the top spot.

In the final game of the weekend, Chicago meets the Bay Area with hopes to rise above FC Gold Pride in the WPS standings.  The Bay Area  currently sits just one point ahead of the Red Stars as both of these two teams look for some big results on Sunday.

The Bay Area's recent record includes three losses and only a single win in the past four games.  FCGP will look for Adriane to once again start at the outside back position and may want to reinstate the Japanese international Eriko Arakawa as its target player up top.  Arakawa has the ability to generate more offensive productivity  by showing feet and finishing in the air.

The Red Stars have weapons in Megan Rapinoe, Christiane, and Lindsay Tarpley to lead their attack, but look for Chicago to once again start some new faces in the backline.  Since the four Chicago defenders did well to contain the Sol's attackers on Wednesday, expect that same starting cast of Jill Oakes, Frida Östberg, Natlie Spilger and Marian Dalmy to take the field against the Bay Area.

Both teams really need the win, so this should be an interesting rematch between two very similar possession style teams.

Week 11 will bring about some exciting games when the two teams at the bottom and the two teams in the middle battle it out head to head.  The number one rated Sol has nothing to lose no matter how the club ends against the Freedom.  Of the teams will be fighting tooth and nail to either advance or to keep their current positiions on the leader board, expect a good weekend from the WPS.