Throughout Friday’s semifinal-round games of the Women’s College Cup at KSU Soccer Stadium — the home of the Atlanta Beat — fans of Women’s Professional Soccer held signs begging for someone, anyone, to save the league.

For the players on the field, the ranks of the professional and national teams are an ultimate goal for continuing their soccer careers.

However, there appears to be little guarantee of that future.

After the termination of the south Florida-based magicJack franchise, WPS is down to five teams. In fact, six teams have folded in the league’s three-year existence, one more than WPS’ current alignment.

The problem comes as a result of WPS’ sanctioning as a Division I professional soccer league by the U.S. Soccer Federation. According to the federation’s bylaws, a league must have eight teams in order to be sanctioned as a Division I league. Last year, WPS operated under a waiver to exist with six teams.

So, what makes this year different than last year?

“I wasn’t with the league last year, but the difference between this year and last year is the expansion pipeline that we have currently,” said WPS CEO Jennifer O’Sullivan, who was in Kennesaw for the opening day of the Women’s College Cup. “It was not in place last year. Coming off a tremendous season for us brought more interest from fans, expansion interest and sponsors. I think we are in a very different place than we were in last year.”

O’Sullivan said she and league officials will meet with U.S. Soccer in the coming days to discuss sanctioning the five-team league in order for it to continue on.

“I wouldn’t characterize them as happy, but that’s the path that we want,” said Fitz Johnson, the Beat’s owner and a WPS board member, of his conversations with U.S. Soccer. “It’s the best women’s league in the world. They understand that and don’t want it to go away any more than we do.

“I don’t have a crystal ball, but we are going to do everything we can to make sure that we have a league. I still can’t tell you today that we will move forward with five teams, but we will fight tooth and nail to make sure that we go forward next year.”

Last year’s Women’s World Cup in Germany drew large crowds — domestically and abroad — and interest in women’s soccer when the U.S. national team players returned was at a fever pitch. When the WPS season resumed, stadiums were filled so that people could see the American stars in person.

However, that simply has not translated to domestic league success.

Former U.S. national team star Brandi Chastain offered one explanation.

“I think one thing that we have to agree upon and we all have to realize is that the U.S., we love an event,” said Chastain, who played for the defunct FC Gold Pride during the league’s inaugural season. “What happens in men’s sports is that, yearly, there are championships, so it’s hard when your championship — even though we have WPS — is once every four years.”

Part of the reason for the struggles in translating success from the World Cup to domestic leagues also stems from sheer publicity of the sport itself.

“The challenges are the same,” said Chastain, who scored the game-winning goal for the U.S. in the 1999 World Cup, about soccer in the late ’90s and now.

“Trying to create a significant existence in the sports landscape in this country is not easy. … It doesn’t translate to as many tickets sold, to as much media exposure. I walk out of my (hotel) room and this is the championship weekend — the championship of all championships — and on the cover of USA Today, it’s talking about (football) conferences.”

More than pointing the finger at the media for a lack of attention to the sport, Chastain pointed the finger directly at women.

“I don’t feel that women do a good enough job supporting other women by buying a ticket and going to the stadium and recognizing how important it is for their girls to go to the stadium or go to the College Cup,” Chastain said. “Those are the things that they would bring their boys to. They’d go to the World Series or they would go to the Super Bowl. But they don’t do it for women’s sports, so I point the finger at my gender as well.”

In order for WPS to build and sustain the type of interest that Chastain hopes for, Johnson and O’Sullivan insist that it is paramount for U.S. Soccer to grant the league a waiver in order to allow the possibility of expansion for the 2013 season.

“Stick with us,” O’Sullivan said. “We have every intention of being here and growing with the fans. We appreciate the support. We hope that we are around to keep providing them with that same great fan experience that we have.”

“We need to play this season with our Division I standing, our Division I status,” Johnson said. “That’s the start. We have expansion — a decent expansion pipeline — for teams in 2013. The fourth year is so critical for us to actually play.”