Monday 19 April 2010

WPS -WEEK 2 RESULTS




                                     Boston Breakers  v  Philadelphia Independence Sun April 18th 




The Philadelphia Independence held the Boston Breakers to a 1-1 draw on Sunday at Harvard Stadium.
The game came alive in the 2nd half and was end to end and also very physical which resulted in the Independence midfielder Jen Buczowski sent off for incurring 2 yellows.
It was Boston who started the 1st half on the front foot. They had an early chance when Kristine Lilly was put through at the side of the box and drove inside. She looked to be brought down by Heather Mitts. The referee pointed to the spot to award a PK however he went to his assistant ref who said Lilly was offside. Freekick to Philadelphia. The Breakers had a few more dangerous opportunities in the first half, but Karina LeBlanc came up with three major saves to keep the game scoreless entering halftime.Lianne Sanderson towards the end of the 1st half was through on goal but was denied by Ashley Phillips.
The Independence came out energized in the second half, substituting Joanna Lohman for Mitts and switching to a 4-4-2 formation. However The Breakers got the 1st goal in the 49th minute. A Kelly Smith free kick that was deflected of the wall. Le Blanc had no chance she was going the other way and had to correct herself. Smith's 2nd goal of the season.
The Independence bounced back immediately, equalizing just six minutes later off a headed finish from central defender Allison Falk. Lori Lindsey sent a perfect bending free kick to the back post that Falk buried beyond Breakers keeper Phillips. Falk scored the first-ever WPS goal last season in the inaugural 2009 WPS match, and tonight scored the first-ever WPS goal for the Independence franchise.
Both teams continued to create offensive chances for the remainder of the half until Philadelphia went down to 10 with the red card for Buczowski  in the 88th minute. Boston took the game to Philadelphia for the final minutes but the Independence held on for the point.



LineupsBoston Breakers: Ashley Phillips; Alex Scott, Amy LePeilbet, Stephanie Cox, Kasey Moore; Chioma Igwe, Leslie Osborne, Kristine Lilly(C), Kelly Smith (Tiffany Weimer,89'), Liz Bogus (Laura del Rio, 74'); Lauren Cheney
Philadelphia Independence: Karina LeBlanc(C); Nikki Krzysik, Allison Falk, Sara Larsson, Heather Mitts (Joanna Lohman, 46'); Jen Buczkowski (R-88), Caroline Seger, Lori Lindsay (Estelle Johnson, 90'); Holmfridur Magnsdottir, Lianne Sanderson (Denesha Adams, 69'), Amy Rodriguez


Midfielder Kelly Smith, Boston Breakers

On what the Breakers can improve on
Finishing when we have our opportunities.  You know I had one where I should’ve scored early on.  [Kristine] Lilly had one that she probably deserved and was disappointed that she didn’t put away.  [Lauren] Cheney at the end there with the header.  Opportunities that you need to put away in games like this.
On her knee
Fine.  Good, healthy. 

Defender Allison Falk, Philadelphia Independence
On her goal
It was the perfect ball that came in.  I was wide open went up for it, put a head on it and it went in.  It was very exciting that first goal [for us] that tied the game and brought momentum back in our favor.










                                        FC Gold Pride v NJ Sky Blue FC Sat April 17th 


In their home opener, FC Gold Pride defeated defending WPS champion Sky Blue FC  3-1, with a pair of goals by Christine Sinclair and a goal by Marta.  Sky Blue FC leveled the game with an early goal in the 2nd half from Laura Kalmari in the 49th minute but it was not enough to avoid their 1st defeat in 4 matches.
The Pride started the first half strong creating multiple chances to score with shots from Camille Abily, Marta, and Sinclair.  In the 10th minute,  Sinclair scored her first goal of the season, putting away a deflected save off a shot from Abily. Sky Blue came back and created a couple of chances.In the 28th minute, Kalmari struck a well hit ball towards the FC Gold Pride net, and the next two Sky Blue FC possessions ended with shot attempts by midfielder Heather O’Reilly and forward Tasha Kai.
Sky Blue FC came out of half time starting a new front line with Rosana and Jessica Landstrom  who entered the game for Kai and Carli Lloyd.  With the new attacking duo adding more pressure to the Pride's back line.Sky Blue got back into the game to tie it up on 49 minutes. Rosana crossed a ball to the center of the field, where Landstrom put a touch on the feed. With the ball trickling towards the end line, Kalmari stepped onto the scene to strike the ball off the far post and into the net.
The Pride answered back in the 75th minute with Sinclair's second goal.  Kelley O'Hara-who had a good game- played a ball into space for a running on Sinclair who chipped Sky Blue FC goalkeeper, Karen Bardsley, to put the Pride ahead.In the 82nd minute,  Marta finished it off with scoreing her first goal as a member of FC Gold Pride after receiving a pass from O'Hara-her 2nd assist of the game- and struck a shot  into the upper  corner of the goal past a diving Bardsley.


Lineups
FC Gold Pride: Nicole Barnhart;Ali Riley, Rachel Buehler (C); Candace Chapman; Kristen Graczyk(Kandace Wilson 79); Becky Edwards; Carrie Dew; Camille Abily (Kiki Bosio 72);Marta, Kelley O'Hara; Christine Sinclair (Tiffany Milbrett 85)
 NJ Sky Blue FC: Karen Bardsley; Keeley Dowling(Kiersten Dallstream 82); Daphne Koster; Brittany Taylor; Danielle Johnson; Heather O'Reilly; Carli Loyd (Jessica Landstrom 45);Yael Averbuch; Kacey White(C); Laura Kilmari; Tasha Kai (Rosana 46)


Albertin Montoya -FC Gold Pride Head Coach
"I was thrilled to see the stands filled the way they were.I think we did our job and put a show on for our fans and hopefully they'll want to come back to see more goals and good soccer because this team is has the quality to do so."


 FC Gold Pride's post game interviews in AUDIO












                                     Chicago Red Stars  v Saint Louis Athletica Sat April 17th


The Chicago Red Stars in front of over 5000 fans held league leaders Saint Louis Athletica to a 1-1 draw at Toyota Park, Chicago. Rookie Casey Noguiera with a fantastic strike leveled the game after Lori Chalupny put Athletica in front
St. Louis Athletica dominated the first half with captain Chalupny scoring in the 3rd minute of the game,pouncing onto a loose ball giving the visitors an edge they used through the rest of the first half.
The Red Stars went on the attack in the second half. In the 58th minute, a Red Star player put a shot over Solo that hit the crossbar and bounced straight down. The Red Stars stayed on the attack and then Red Stars midfielder Katie Chapman sent the ball from right to left to Nogueira, who took one dribble toward the middle to free space then fired the ball into the upper right corner.
Much of the rest of the second half was played in the midfield, but the Red Stars went on the attack again in the final five minutes and Nogueira had a nearly identical shot opportunity in the final couple of minutes but sent it high.
For the game, Hope Solo had six saves for Athletica and Jillian Loyden made a pair of saves and batted away several other potential Saint Louis scoring opportunities

Lineups:
Chicago Red Stars: Jillian Loyden (GK), Marian Dalmy, Kate Markgraf(C), Ifeoma Dieke, Whitney Engen, Kosovare Asllani, Kate Chapman, Brittany Klein (Formiga, 70), Julliane Sitch (Karen Carney, 65), Ella Masar (Casey Nogueira, 46), Cristiane.
Saint Louis Athletica: Hope Solo (GK), Elaine (Nikki Cross 30), Kendall Fletcher, Tina Ellertson, Elise Weber, Carolyn Blank, Lori Chalupny(C), Shannon Boxx, Aya Miyama (Madelaine Edlund 67), Tina DiMartino, Eniola Aluko (Lindsey Tarpley 77).

Red Stars midfielder Casey Nogueira:
On her second potential scoring chance: "That was a sitter. I should have just placed it, and I blasted it; it went right over."
"It was pretty awesome. The field is amazing and we had a bunch of people there and you could hear them the whole time and it was an enjoyable first home match for me."


Athletica goalkeeper Hope Solo:
"They came at us with numbers. They threw everything at us. At times it looked like they had a far aggressive back line. And it was hard to control. I think our best defense against them was moving the ball on the attack."
"I saw Casey Nogueira and I knew exactly what she was going to do. Because that's her shot. On the national team, that's her shot. She's better than anyone I know at that kind of bent ball far post. I saw early enough that she was going to do it. I wish I would have kept cheating."










                                       Washington Freedom  v  Atlanta Beat  Sun April 18th 


 Washington Freedom posted their first victory of the 2010 season, defeating expansion team Atlanta Beat 3-1 in the first meeting between the two teams. Freedom forward Abby Wambach, posted one goal and two assists to help Freedom clinch the win Sunday night.Ramona Bachmann goal was 1st for Atlanta in WPS.
Play went back and forth in the first half with Atlanta maintaining good possession and chances by Beat midfielder Lauren Sesslemann in the fourth minute, Johanna Rasmussen in the eighth, and Tobin Heath in the 11th.
The Freedom took the lead late in the first half with a goal in the 41st minute scored by Wambach with an assist by Sonia Bompastor. Bompastor took a free kick for Freedom, sending a dangerous ball in front of the Atlanta goal, where Wambach was waiting to tap the opening goal past the Beat goalkeeper Allison Whitworth.
At the start of second half, Atlanta’s Mami Yamaguchi played a through ball into Bachmann in the 47th minute. Bachmann ran in behind the Freedom defense to score the Beat’s first goal in WPS history.
Nearly three minutes after Bachmann’s finish, a Washington Freedom serve came in from right midfield. Wambach laid it off to Homare Sawa who shot from the top of the box and put the Freedom up 2-1 in the 50th minute. Christie Welsh scored the game’s final goal in the 89th contributing to the 3-1 result.


Lineups:
Washington Freedom: Erin McLeod; Rebecca Moros; Cat Whitehill(C); Nikki Marshall; Sonia Bompastor;Allie Long (Sarah Huffman 59);Homare Sawa; Lene Mykjaland (Jill Gillbeau 81);Becky Sauerbrunn;Lisa DeVanna (Chrstie Welsh 64);Abby Wambach.
Atlanta Beat:Alison Whitworth, Lauren Sesselmann(Sophia Mundy 88), Kia McNeill, Leigh-Ann Robinson, Stacey Bishop, McCall Zerboni(Monica Ocampo 67), Angie Kerr(C)(Amanda Cinalli 67), Mami Yamaguchi, Johanna Rasmussen, Tobin Heath, Ramona Bachmann


Freedom striker Abby Wambach
“Our first goal gave us confidence going into halftime and that was important for us,” 

Beat midfielder Tobin Heath
"Abby and Cat and a number of their players are very solid. I have great respect for them. Competing against them at this level is awesome.I've been on a number of teams that win, so I bring that edge. I have the experience which helps with the development of our players, and try and carry the rhythm out there. I just try to be productive on the offensive end and give my team a spark when we need it. This is only our second game so we are still trying to figure things out, but we have great strengths on the attacking end. We have different personalities, so we are just trying to get those personalities to mesh. The hardest thing when you score is that first five minutes after, not allowing another one and we had a lapse, and they had that goal right after ours took. My hat goes off to them. They definitely took the wind out of our sails a little bit."  




 

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