French striker Marinette Pichon scored five goals Sunday and the top-seeded New Jersey Wildcats advanced to the W-League final with a wild 6-5 triumph over the Montreal Xtreme in West Windsor, N.J.
The Chicago Cobras also advanced to the Aug. 7-8 championships in Ottawa, rallying for a 2-1 overtime victory over the Charlotte Lady Eagles in Mooseheart, Ill. Arizona State junior Brittany Cooper scored the winner in the 100th minute.
The Cobras (14-0-1) will face the Vancouver Whitecaps (14-0-1) in the first semifinal Saturday at Carleton University in Ottawa. The Wildcats (16-0-0) will meet the host Ottawa Fury (13-1-0) in the other semifinal. Sunday's championship match will be shown on Fox Sports World.
New Jersey let 3-0 and 4-3 leads disappear as the Xtreme (13-4-0) scored five goals for the second time in as many nights.
Pichon, the former Philadelphia Charge star and 2002 WUSA MVP, scored in the 16th, 25th and 44th minutes to give the Wildcats a three-goal advantage, but Montreal rallied as former Canadian U-19 standout Caroline Vaillancourt assisted Amy Walsh just before halftime, then scored goals in the 47th and 55th minutes.
Arizona State star Manya Makoski, who was part of the U.S. under-19 team that won the World Championship in 2002 and the U-21 squad that last week captured the Nordic Cup title, fired New Jersey ahead in the 65th.
Walsh, a former Canadian national-teamer who played for San Jose and Atlanta in the WUSA, then set up Canadian collegian Kelly Hemsley for a 4-4 tie.
Pichon netted two more goals, in the 85th and 89th minutes, to put the Wildcats in charge, and Vaillancourt completed her hat trick from Canadian national-teamer (and former Atlanta Beat star) Sharolta Nonen's assist in the final minute.
Chicago (14-0-1), W-League runners-up last season, overcame a first-half own goal to capture the Central Conference title at Mooseheart Stadium, beating Charlotte in the final for the second successive year.
Charlotte took a 26th-minute lead on an own goal by Arizona State senior Stephanie Peel, but the Cobras pulled even on Arizona State junior Elizabeth Bogus' 81st-minute strike. Cooper's decisive goal was set up by from an assist by University of Connecticut All-American Kristen Graczyk.