The Los Angeles Sol suffered a 1-0 loss at the hands of the Saint Louis Athletica Wednesday afternoon at The Home Depot Center. Despite the loss, the Sol remain in first place the WPS standings at 11-2-4 (37 points), while the Athletica tighten their grasp on second with a 23 points and 7-5-2 record.
Saint Louis took the lead just 11 minutes into the match when midfielder Amanda Cinalli slotted home a pass from Eniola Aluko past a helpless Karina LeBlanc in the Sol net. The Sol nearly equalized in the 20th minute – Marta hit a low, first-time shot towards the goal that the Athletica’s Hope Solo dove to her left to smother.
Chinese forward Han Duan almost drew the Sol even in the 31st minute after collecting a pass from Marta and eluding a couple of defenders in the penalty area, but Solo knocked her low shot out of danger. Neither team threatened for the remainder of the first half and the visitors clung to the slimmest of margins at the interval.
In the opening minutes of the second half, the Sol threatened a couple of times in rapid succession, but were unable to break through the Athletica defense and the visitors remained in the lead.
Marta nearly equalized for the Sol in the 58th minute, but Solo parried her curling corner kick out of danger. Defender Brittany Bock got her head to a corner five minutes later, but Solo reacted quickly, covered the near post well and punched the ball off the line.
Aya Miyama collected a pass from Marta in the box in the 67th minute, but she hesitated before taking a low shot and Solo cut off the angle and again made the save to preserve the victory.
This was the last home game of the 2009 season for the Los Angeles Sol. Their next match will be on Thursday, July 23, when they take on FC Gold Pride at Buck Shaw Stadium at 7pm PT / 10pm ET in Santa Clara, Calif.
Athletica are on the road again to RFK Stadium in Washington D.C., where they will take on the Washington Freedom on Saturday, July 18 at 5pm ET / 2pm PT.
Abner Rogers, Los Angeles Sol Head Coach
“In the first half, we came out flat. But, I think we did a better job battling back in the second half playing a 3-4-3 system.”
“Our legs were heavy, but there are no excuses; we could have done a better job defensively.”
“We created multiple opportunities to tie up the match.”
“The loss today is a small bump in our successful season.”
“It’s a true mark of a champion to bounce back after a loss.”
“It feels great. The team did what we practiced this week. LA pressured us in the second half and we were able to hold. We came out with the win, but we haven’t won anything yet,” head coach Jorge Barcellos stated. “We still have things to work on.”
Lineups:
Los Angeles Sol: Karina LeBlanc; Manya Makoski, Stephanie Cox, Brittany Bock, Katie Larkin (46: Aly Wagner); McCall Zerboni (78: Lyndsey Patterson), Camille Abily, Shannon Boxx (C), Aya Miyama; Han Duan (46: Liz Bogus), Marta.
Saint Louis Athletica: Hope Solo; Elsie Weber, Tina Ellertson, Sara Larsson, Stephanie Logeterman; Lori Chalupny (C), Kendall Fletcher, Amanda Cinalli (78: Melissa Tancredi), Lisa Stoia, Angie Woznuk (77: Kia McNeill); Eniola Aluko (91+: Niki Cross).
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