By Wednesday night, some of the Athletica players were headed to their year-round homes. Backup goalie Jillian Loyden was on her way back to New Jersey after the game. Lisa Stoia is headed back to West Virginia, to resume her duties as an assistant coach for the women’s soccer team there. Lori Chalupny will soon be headed to Chapel Hill, N.C., to take the classes she needs to finish up her degree at Carolina. Chalupny will come back, along with Tina Ellertson and Hope Solo, for the All-Star Game on Aug. 30.  Angie Woznuk and Ashley Pistorius are both getting married in September.

The analysis of what went wrong on Wednesday was fairly simple. The team came out flat in the first 45 minutes, committed several defensive gaffes, which fortunately for them led to only one goal. In the second half, they played much better, with a great deal of enthusiasm and energy, but fell victim to a season-long bugaboo, getting goals from someone other than Eniola Aluko.

After a loss earlier this season, Solo told me that when the team gives up a goal, the cause usually isn’t physical, it’s mental. If they keep their heads in the game, they’re tough to beat. She felt that was the case again last night.

“Everybody knows we had the talent to win, not just tonight but this whole league,” Solo said after the game. “Everybody knows that. To be honest, I dont think LA wanted to face us. They know that we know how to play against them. But the one thing holding this team back is bringing it from the very first minute when the whistle blows to the very last and that’s our problem. It’s going to get better, for a young team it’s going to get better.”

(Coach Jorge Barcellos, by the way, lavished praise on Solo after the game: “Sincerely I was questioning why she wasn’t the starting keeper for the All-Star Game. For me she is the best goalkeeper in the world. There is no other, not here or any other country. She is the best in the world by far.”)

Offensively, Barcellos thought his forwards were too wide in the attacking end. It seemed whenever one of his players got the ball in the box, there were two or three bodies nearby and little room to maneuver.

“Our forwards were coming back too much and opening too much,” Barcellos said. “They have to be more central. I asked them when time came to mark to mark outside backs, but when they get the ball, to go inside. What was happening, one forward was open on one side, the other was open on the other side, there was too much space.”

When the team came close to scoring in the second half, it was at a time when everyone was going forward. Ellertson showed some of the moves that no doubt made her a great forward in college, making one dazzling run forward. “I was trying to get my team up, to do anything I could to put (Sky Blue) on their toes, to take it to them. You come this close. We worked all season long for this and the first 45 minutes we did not show up as well as we should have. We didn’t have heads on and they were ready.”

Said Sky Blue coach Christie Rampone on the team’s defensive strategy: “Early communication, knowing where there forwards were at all times. Knowing their style, they like to slip that ball back for the midfielders to run on, I think our midfielders did a great job of tracking back and making sure they stayed man marking on that ball that was slotted back.”

What’s up next for the Athletica is coming up with the 10 players they will protect in the expansion draft. Daniela will be ready to play next season, so that’s a big improvement right there. Depending on how the expansion draft goes, the team won’t have any international spots open unless they lose one of their current players: Daniela, Aluko, Sarah Walsh, Sara Larsson and Melissa Tancredi. Barcellos said after the game the team needs to get stronger up top, and that that would be the main focus in the offseason. This season showed that college stars can’t be counted on to provide immediate scoring help. Looking around the league, Amy Rodriguez had a tough season in Boston, and was even left off the team’s traveling squad twice and was oft-criticized by coach Tony DiCicco. Would she benefit from a change of scenery? How much would Boston want for the league’s top draft pick last year?

The trouble of a one-game playoff system like WPS has is that it one bad day, or one bad half, like the Athletica had, and you’re done. The Athletica need to ramp up their offense for next season.