Saint Louis Athletica had their chances, plenty of them, but could not get the result they might have deserved and dropped a 2-1 decision to the Los Angeles Sol in front of 3,014 at The Anheuser-Busch Soccer Park on Wednesday night.
Han Duan got the first goal of the game for Los Angeles in the 50th minute. Duan’s effort was singularly impressive as she had a ball played into her at the edge of the penalty area. Duan used her first touch to flick the ball over and around Tina Ellertson, Duan picked up the ball as she moved past Ellertson and then beat Hope Solo with a clean shot to the far post.
Marta would provide that second goal in the 73rd minute as an Aly Wagner ball found her in the area. Marta’s quick shot was able to beat Solo and Los Angeles looked comfortable with a 2-0 lead.
Kerri Hanks, subbed in the 77th minute, notched her first goal of the season in the 81st minute to draw one back and breathe some late life into the game. Eniola Aluko provided the set up and Hanks became the first Athletica player to get a ball past LA’s Karina LeBlanc this season.
The game was likely decided in the first half as it was Saint Louis that applied the pressure and outshot the Sol nine to six, put four chances on goal to LA’s three, and took six corners to Los Angeles’ one, yet nothing would go in. First half chances by Lori Chalupny, Christie Welsh, and Ellertson all were handled by LeBlanc or finished high and wide.
The second half would see more of the same from Saint Louis as Athletica pushed forward and tried to overcome one and two goal deficits. Athletica earned another six corners, took a staggering 16 shots, and placed six shots on goal for the half.
LeBlanc again proved to be the story. Chalupny’s 63rd minute bid to tie the match drew a fantastic save from LeBlanc. LeBlanc then saved Melissa Tancredi’s header two minutes later. Those two saves represented Athletica’s best chances until Hanks converted later.
Athletica remain in fourth place for the moment due to all the teams behind them in the standings being off on Wednesday night. Sunday night they will face Sky Blue FC at Rutgers University in New Jersey. A win will keep Athletica in fourth place. The game can be seen on the Fox Soccer Channel and heard locally in St. Louis on Team 1380 AM. Game time is 6pm ET.
The Los Angeles Sol who extend their points at the top of the league hosts the Chicago Red Stars this Saturday, June 27 at 1pm ET at The Home Depot Center.
“I believe in the second half we created so many chances. It is something in a match to have 12 corner kicks and we missed a goal almost inside the goal. We worked on a lot of things during the week and the goals didn’t happen for us,” said Athletica Head Coach Jorge Barcellos. “Today though we proved we could play with Los Angeles. They had two chances in the second half and scored on both chances. Now we need to prepare to go to New Jersey.”
“It was kind of frustrating that I hadn’t gotten a goal yet,” said Hanks. “Aluko set me up on a perfect through ball and I just took my chance and hit it well.”
“We made a few changes to start the second half,” said Sol Head Coach Abner Rogers. “Duan came in off the bench and scored a world class goal. We only had two good chances tonight and we got goals from both.”
Lineups:
Saint Louis Athletica: Hope Solo; Kia McNeill (58: Melissa Tancredi), Tina Ellertson, Sara Larsson, Stephanie Logterman, Lori Chalupny, Angie Woznuk, Kendall Fletcher, Amanda Cinalli (76: Ashlee Pistorius), Christie Welsh (77: Kerri Hanks), Eniola Aluko.
Los Angeles Sol: Karina LeBlanc; Manya Makoski, Allison Falk, Lisa Sari, Stephanie Cox; Camille Abily (69: Aly Wagner), Shannon Boxx (C), Aya Miyama, Brittany Bock, Marta, Keri Sanchez (50: Han Duan).
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