FC GOLD PRIDE 0 - 1 BOSTON BREAKERS

Kelly Schmedes scored her first goal of the season to lead the Boston Breakers past FC Gold Pride, 1-0, on Sunday night at Buck Shaw Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif.

Schmedes goal for the Breakers came in the 13th minute, beating the offsides trap from a pass by Mary-Frances Monroe before slotting the ball past Pride goalkeeper Allison Whitworth. The assist was Monroe’s first of the season.

The Breakers had the majority of play and chances in the first half, as Kristine Lilly and Fabiana were constantly dangerous in the attack. Boston held an 8-2 shot advantage in the first 45, including six shots on goal.

The Pride pressured the Breakers in the second half, firing off nine shots while not allowing a single shot on goal. Despite a couple of close-range opportunities, the Pride couldn't find the back of the net. The closest coming in the 57th minute when midfielder Tina DiMartino hit the crossbar and the followup shot from Formiga hit the post.

US Soccer star Tiffeny Milbrett shined once again on the front line for the Pride as one of the driving forces behind the team's attack.

Boston (7-6-3, 24 points) held on for the victory taking them back up to 2nd place in the WPS standings.

FC Gold Pride (3-9-3, 12 points) lost for the fourth-consecutive match and remain winless in their last eight. They are now 10 points behind Sky Blue FC for the fourth and final playoff spot with five matches remaining.

FC Gold Pride will remain at home to host the first place Los Angeles Sol on Thursday July 23rd.. This is the fourth and final time the intrastate rivals will meet during the 2009 regular season. The Sol owns the season series against the Pride, winning all three previous matches between the west coast teams.

The Breakers return home to face Sky Blue FC on Saturday July 25th in the fourth and final meeting between the two teams. Sky Blue FC has won all three previous meetings.

FC Gold Pride Head Coach Albertin Montoya.

"We stress how important it is to go out there and get the first goal show some energy, excitement and desire to compete, and try to make things happen. I think we lacked that in the first half. In the second half we started to create chances, hit the post twice and started getting in behind the defense, we were pressing them. As it happens so often we had one breakdown in the back. We have to give Boston credit, they took advantage of that and put the ball in the back of the net. At the end of the day, it was similar to some of the losses in the past whether we have our national team players or not, it's that one breakdown."

FC Gold Pride forward Tiffeny Milbrett.

"I want to take responsibility for not being able to tie up this game,It's not easy when you have missing pieces. Unfortunately were still a very young team and very fragile, we haven't grown enough together. I think what we see right now, is we're putting stuff together. But unfortunately luck is not with us sometimes, also were not creating our own luck."

"I think we are a team that needs to just keep fighting to the very end. Regardless, we need to button up our defense, button up our midfield, we need to score goals from our forwards, or even from our midfield; we just have to do everything," added Milbrett.

Boston Breakers Head Coach Tont DiCicco

“We got that first goal and that’s an important goal in this league.I thought we had a couple really good chances to go two up and we didn’t, so I knew it was going to be a really difficult game in the second half. Still we played well.”

Boston Breakers forward Kelly Schmedes

“We had a number of players missing.I feel like it says a lot about our team and just the depth of our team and the heart of our team how we had confidence in each other and we work hard for each other and that’s how we got the win.”

Line -ups:

FC GOLD PRIDE: Allison Whitworth, Carrie Dew, Kristen Graczyk (C) , Tina DiMartino (Adriane, 85), Leigh Ann Robinson, Greet Barnes, Formiga, Tiffeny Milbrett, Tiffany Weimer (Kimberly Yokers, 46), Erika (Sissi, 64), Eriko Arakawa.

BOSTON: Alli Lipsher; Abby Crumpton, Kasey Moore, Nancy Augustyniak-Goffi, Erika Sutton, Maggie Tomecka, Kristine Lilly(C) , Mary-Frances Monroe (Sophia Mundy,62), Kelly Schmedes, Fabiana (Stacy Bishop, 66), Jennie Nobis (Christine Latham, 71).