WASHINGTON FREEDOM 1 - 3 BOSTON BREAKERS

The Breakers win again.Courtesy of a flurry of goals in the 2nd half.The first two penalty kicks in league history each turned out favorably for Boston as Kelly Smith opened the scoring from the penalty spot while Kristin Luckenbill saved what would have been a go-ahead Abby Wambach penalty 16 minutes later in the Breakers' 3-1 win over the Washington Freedom on Saturday evening at the Maryland SoccerPlex in Boyds, Md.

Smith put the Breakers in front with her third goal of the season in the 56th minute. Angela Hucles was poleaxed inside the area by Freedom goalkeeper Briana Scurry to lead to the spot kick.

The Freedom came right back and leveled the score just four minutes later on a goal from Lori Lindsey, assisted by Rebecca Moros, and then had a chance to take the lead in the 72nd minute after Boston defender Amy LePeilbet was called for a hand ball in the box. Wambach's penalty attempt was saved by a diving Luckenbill, who read correctly toward the lower right hand corner.

The Breakers made the Freedom pay for the miss by capitalizing four minutes later on a header by second-half substitute Christine Latham. After a nice run by Kristine Lilly led to a Latham cross that was cleared by Scurry, Alex Scott sent the ball back in to Latham, who headed the ball past Scurry. Scott was a machine going up and down the right flank and shackled Sonia Bompastor.Her best game by far in the WPS.

Hucles added to the Breakers lead in the 81st minute with an stunner of a goal from the edge of the penalty area into the upper corner of the goal. A diving Scurry had no chance.

"There was some good and some bad," said Breakers head coach Tony DiCicco. "I thought our back line and our goalkeeper Luckenbill defended very well. Offensively we finished very well in the second half. I didn't think we passed the ball as well as we normally have, and we gave a lot of balls away, but give credit to Washington for that.

"I'm proud of this team though. The best teams find a way to get results even when not playing their best, and I thought we did that tonight."

The teams battled an evenly contested first half with chances on both sides despite the 0-0 scoreline. Boston's best chance of the first half came in the 36th minute when Lilly turned and beat a Freedom defender in side the penalty area, beat Scurry, but had her effort headed away by Becky Sauerbrunn in time to prevent the goal.Washington's best chance was when Wambach was through on goal from a headed flick by Scott only to be superbly tackled in the box by Lepeilbet.


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LINEUPS

WSH: 1 – Scurry (GK), 11 – Janss (3 – Gilbeau, 46’), 4 – Whitehill , 22 – Sauerbrunn , 21 – Singer , 8 – Bompastor, 6 – Lindsey, 9 – Long (19 – Moros, 46’), 10 – Sawa, 20 – Wambach – Capt.), 17 - De Vanna (25 – Zimmeck, 84’)

BOS: 1 – Luckenbill (GK), 2 – Mitts, 6 – LePeilbet, 20 – Weber, 22 – Scott, 10 – Smith, 16 – Hucles, 17 – Moore (4 – Bishop, 61’), 13 – Lilly - Capt.), 3 – Schmedes (5 – Tomecka, 84’), 8 – Rodriquez,(7 – Latham, 68’).