Life West won its third-straight national championship, and yesterday’s title-winner was the Northern California’s largest margin of victory yet, 91-22. Life West coach Adriaan Ferris explained that the team had applied for inclusion to the Women’s Premier League, but the competition has already released its 2018 schedule and the Gladiatrix are not included. WPL commissioner Milla Sanes explained the situation:
Shortly after the WPL started, a promotion/relegation policy was put in place that had the WPL inviting up the top DI teams to challenge the bottom WPL teams at the end of the season, shortly after Nationals. When USAR had DI-DIII move from a Fall Championships to Spring, and the WPL stayed in the Fall, the League chose to suspend this policy and work towards expanding the number of teams in the WPL. Having (finally) achieved that in 2017, the teams voted to reinstate promotion/relegation starting with a challenge match at the end of our 2018 season, to have the possibility of a change-up in teams for the 2019 season.
Given Life West’s great performance at the DI level this year and last, and winning the Championships [Saturday], they will be invited to participate in a Challenge Match. As will Raleigh, given their performance and second-place finish.
In short, Life West has a pathway to the WPL but the team will have to sort something else out for the 2018-19 club season.