FC GOLD PRIDE 1 - 0 NJ/NY SKY BLUE FC

Robinson to the rescue!

FC Gold Pride kept up their unbeaten record at home in front of the enthusiastic 2,533 crowd. Small crowd maybe due in part to the weather earlier on in the day. It only cleared up 30 minutes before kick-off. The single goal came from the substitute Leigh Ann Robinson in the 86th minute - probably was unlucky not to start the match. She is on the roster as a defender but Coach Albertin Montoya put her on for her speed and to get behind Sky Blue's defence which of course she did.

"What we saw was that we could use Leigh Ann Robinson's speed. She's probably our second fastest player, and we talked about getting in behind the defense out wide, and there's no other player on the bench at that time that I felt could do that at that time as well for us." Albertin Montoya

The match was filled with plenty of physical play. Sky Blue FC midfielder Kelly Parker may have gotten a little too physical pressuring Formiga and was issued a yellow card in the 44th minute. The teams exchanged near misses at the end of the first half. First, Heather O’Reilly hit the post on a sliding, all-out effort to find the back of the net. Tiffany Weimer followed up that attack by bouncing a well-struck free kick off the cross bar to end the half.

Weimer missed a penalty in the 38th minute when Sky Blue Captain Christe Rampone back from injury - brought Weimer down inside the penalty box. Sky Blue FC GK Jenni Branam came up with a big save on Weimer's penalty kick, pushing the shot wide, and keeping the teams even at 0-0.

The goal came because Adriane, who entered the match in the 84th minute, did some serious thinking on her feet. The Brazilian looked left and noticed teammate Eriko Arakawa was in an offside position, so she looked back right and made eye contact with Robinson. Her pass fed through to Robinson perfectly, and Robinson's momentum and speed carried her toward the goal in open space.Robinson ripped a shot past goalkeeper Jenni Branam to the near post.

Gold Pride goalkeeper Nicole Barnhart was up to every challenge, especially in the first half when she had two brilliant saves. Central defender Carrie Dew - back from injury and badly missed and Formiga helped make Barnhart's job a little easier.

Sky Blue have now not won a single match. They were unlucky not to score and with Rampone back they can look to push on but it will be difficult. They are on the road again next week heading to Chicago to play the Red Stars in the FSC game of the week.

“Obviously we’re disappointed with the result – to come this far and not get anything out of the game,” said Sky Blue FC Head Coach and General Manager Ian Sawyers. “We had some great chances in the first half and obviously again in the second. We felt we had a couple of golden chances that we didn’t take care of.”

Lineups:

FC Gold Pride - Nicole Barnhart; Carrie Dew, Rachel Buehler, Kristen Graczyk; Formiga, Tiffeny Milbrett (Eriko Arakawa, 57th), Leslie Osborne, Tina DiMartino; Christine Sinclair (Leigh Ann Robinson, 70th), Tiffany Weimer (Adriane, 84th), Kandace Wilson.

Sky Blue FC - Jenni Branam; Julianne Sitch, Anita Asante, Keeley Dowling, Christie Rampone; Collette McCallum (Natasha Kai, 45th), Kelly Parker, Meghan Schnur, Yael Averbuch (Kacey White, 80th); Sarah Walsh (Rosana, 65th), Heather O'Reilly.