NJ SKY BLUE FC 1 - 0 CHICAGO RED STARS

The Chicago Red Stars dropped to last place in the WPS league standings when they were beat by Sky Blue FC 1 -0 at Yurcak Field last night.
Chicago have not had a win in their last 7 matches.Their last win was on 25th April against Boston Breakers.

Rosana scored an unassisted goal in the 24th minute to put Sky Blue FC past the Red Stars, 1-0.
Rosana’s goal followed a Chicago foul by Megan Rapinoe against Heather O’Reilly along the right touchline. Off the resulting free kick, O’Reilly crossed the ball into the box where it bounced around before finding its way to Rosana’s foot. The Brazilian native buried her shot from the top of the 6-yard box for her second goal of the season.

The Red Stars got a pair of strong chances early in the second half from forwardDanesha Adams, who made her first start of the season in the contest,in place of Lindsay Tarpley but Sky Blue FC goalkeeper Jenni Branam was up to the challenge on each.

The Red Stars were without English star Karen Carney who was serving a suspension for her red card in the previous game and defender Ifeoma Dieke who is still recovering from injury.

Sky Blue FC outshot Chicago, 13-8, with each team putting five shots on target. Branam recorded five saves, one better than Red Stars goalkeeper Caroline Jönsson.

Sky Blue FC (3-5-3) jumps past the Red Stars in the WPS standings and into a three-way tie for fourth place. Chicago slips to seventh place in the standings.

The Red Stars return home to TOYOTA PARK on Sunday, June 21, to face the Boston Breakers at 3pm CT. The Father’s Day match will feature a special car show in the parking lot before the game. Sky Blue FC will host Washington Freedom on Sunday, June 28, at Yurcak Stadium in Piscataway, NJ at 2pm ET.



Sky Blue FC interim Head Coach Kelly Lindsey:
"It was great to get goal early, but now we need to focus on how we play when we have a lead. In this league, every team has a dynamic attack and they will not stop coming at us. That's the next building block we're going to work on in order to round out our play."

Sky Blue FC forward Natasha Kai:
"It was a battle for the full 90 minutes. Both sides had plenty of chances, but it only takes one goal to win and we were the team that made our chances count. As a professional, you have to convert the few scoring chances you get in a game, and we did our job tonight."

Chicago Red Stars head coach Emma Hayes:
"We simply lost the game in the first half tonight. It's always difficult to come back from being a goal down, but particularly so in this league where you rarely see a team come from behind and win. We need to look at our personnel this week and find the players who are capable of making a difference in the final third."

Chicago Red Stars midfielder Carli Lloyd:
"I really enjoyed playing at Yurcak Field tonight. I miss being at Rutgers - this was my home for four years. I had family and friends in the stands tonight, and while it was exciting to play in front of them it was unfortunate that we couldn't get the win."

Lineups:

Sky Blue FC – Branam; Schnur, Rampone, Asante, Dowling; Parker (Sitch, 75), Rosana (McCallum, 64), Averbuch, O’Reilly; Kai, White (Buczkowski, 69).

Chicago Red Stars – Jönsson; Dalmy, Spilger, Oakes, Östberg (Tarpley, 64); Rapinoe (Vandenbergh, 90), Igwe, Lloyd, Klein, Cristiane (Dieke, 80); Adams.