Los Angeles Sol v NJ Sky Blue FC Highlights &Trophy Presentation

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WPS PREVIEW WEEK 14

Los Angeles Sol v Chicago Red Stars Sat June 27 1pm ET Live on webcam


The Chicago Red Stars will try to break an eight-match winless streak Saturday when they face WPS leader the Los Angeles Sol at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif.

Saturday marks the second meeting of the season between Chicago (2-5-5, 11 pts) and the Sol (9-1-4, 31 pts). The Red Stars nearly won at Los Angeles earlier this month when Cristiane scored her first goal of the season in the 88th minute to give Chicago a 1-0 lead. But WPS goals leader Camille Abily recorded the equalizer seconds before the final whistle to force a 1-1 draw.

Los Angeles brings a nine-match unbeaten streak into Saturday’s game. The Sol are 13 points ahead of second-place Boston in the WPS standings.Marta is on form having scored in th last 2 matches.

Red Stars defender Marian Dalmy will miss the match after suffering an ankle sprain Sunday in Chicago’s loss to Boston. Heather Garriock and Ella Masar are also out with injury for Chicago.

The Sol may well still be without defender Martina Franko who missed the trip to Saint Louis. Brittany Bock may start in defence again.






NJ Sky Blue FC v Saint Louis Athletica Sun 28 June 6pm ET Live FSC, Webcam

After an 11-day mid-season break, Sky Blue FC is recharged and ready to take aim on a spot in the playoffs as the team heads into the second half of the season. Sky Blue FC first sets it sights on Saint Louis Athletica, which makes its only visit to New Jersey this season.

Sky Blue FC meets Saint Louis on Sunday in a 6 p.m. clash at Yurcak Field on the campus of Rutgers University in Piscataway, N.J.

Heading into the match, Sky Blue FC (3-5-3, 12 pts.) holds down fifth place in the standings, edging out sixth-place FC Gold Pride (3-6-3, 12 pts.) on goal differential. The New Jersey/New York team has a game in hand over both FC Gold Pride and the cellar-dwelling Chicago Red Stars (2-5-5, 11 pts.), who Sky Blue FC defeated 1-0 in their most recent game on June 17.

Athletica (4-5-2, 14 pts.) comes into the match in sole possession of fourth place and the final playoff position. After the results of this week’s midweek matches, Saint Louis sits two points behind the third-place Washington Freedom (4-4-4, 16 pts.). The Los Angeles Sol (9-1-4, 31 pts.) remains alone atop the table, 13 points clear of the Boston Breakers (5-4-3, 18 pts.).

In the only prior meeting between Sky Blue FC and Athletica, Saint Louis came away the victors 1-0 in a closely-fought battle at Anheuser-Busch Soccer Park in Fenton, Mo. Amanda Cinalli’s goal in the 15th minute proved to be the difference in a game where Sky Blue FC outshot the home team and controlled play for long stretches of time.

WPS Half-Term report - LOS ANGELES SOL

Who? What left is there to say about the Sol that has not been said or read already.

In this 1st half of the Inaugural season of the WPS, THE Los Angeles Sol so far have been the dominant, most consistent and yes… the best team in the league.

The league table doesn’t lie.And neither do the stats.The Sol sit at the top as of June 25th with 31 pts - Played 14 , Won 9, Lost 1, Draws 4. They have played two games more than the 2nd placed Boston Breakers but they are still comfortably in front.
They are currently on a 9 games unbeaten run - 6 of those are wins.
How? The team are playing well together. They play possession soccer. The midfield four have specific jobs and they are executing the jobs well and the defence are defending intelligently and as a unit.
The Sol are difficult to score against and ultimately to beat. Teams have tried and come close and even some have deserved to score and a win but they have come up short and not taken their chances.
The Sol offence when given a chance will most likely take that chance…thank you very much.

They lead the league in most goals scored 19 ; least goals conceded 5 ; most shutouts 10 and Top goal scorer , Camille Abily 7.

Players - Offence:
Marta is the star player. The Brazilian Attracts the attention of the opposition defenders, sometimes all of them at the same time, that just leaves space for the other Sol players to exploit. Which they have taken.
When Marta is not scoring she is setting up her teamates. She is 2nd in the goal scoring charts with 6 goals and 2nd in assists with 3.



Midfield:
Camille Abily is one player who has benefited from the attention on Marta. She has snuck in there almost unnoticed to score a league leading 7 goals. All from midfield. The French international brings a calm, technical game to the Sol midfield. An intelligent player who always makes herself available in midfield to receive the ball, hold the ball and pass it off to an open player without fuss. Abily is a fan favourite and although unknown at the beginning of the season to the American public she is now becoming a star there too as she was in her native France. No wonder Olympic Lyon were having a cardiac arrest when she moved to WPS. Now we know why.
Defence:
Alison Falk never gets mentioned too much by reporters or blogs. But here at womans soccer insider we believe she is vital to the Sol.The rookie…yes she is a rookie..from Stanford University has been the rock at the back. Started 13 games out of 14 and played 90 minutes in all ,Falk is tall, good in the air, deceptively strong and quick. Falk hasn’t put a foot wrong as she has gone up against strong, experienced and international players like Abby Wambach and Christine Sinclair and quick players like Lisa DeVanna and Eniola Aluko and been a match for all of them.

Mentions to - Brittany Bock - defender, midfielder, forward ? She’s been everywhere but in goal. Bock is a competitive player that gives 110% no matter where she is playing. Almost combative by nature she played the first 5 games as a centre-back having never played there before. Impressing the Sol coaches in training with her desire to compete for challenges. She was a midfielder/forward in college. She then spent the next few in midfield man marked Boston’s Kelly Smith out of the game in that position in the 0-0 tie at the Home Depot Center.
Moved to centre forward to give some assist to Marta and scored her 2nd goal of the season. Yes we had to mention Brittany Bock.

Karina Leblanc - KK to her friends - we will look at her closely further in the blog but the stats say it all.
13 games , 51 saves , goals against 5 , Goals against avg 0.38 , Saved a PK , 9 Shutouts. No1.

All those players have stood out to us but LA really have played as a team and we would be here all day and night if we had to mention all the players.

A- Excellent. Still room for improvement.(harsh,i know) Top of the class for now.

MIDWEEK GAMES -WEDNESDAY 24TH JUNE 09

Boston Breakers vs. Washington Freedom (7 pm ET - CSN)
Harvard Stadium, Cambridge, MA

The third of four matches between these two teams whose namesakes stem from the old WUSA. Boston has the chance to clinch the season series with a win after notching a 3-1 victory in the first game at Maryland SoccerPlex and drawing 1-1 in Boston one month ago. Just one point separates these two teams, with Washington sitting in second in the WPS Standings and the Breakers in third.

The Breakers broke out of several slumps over the weekend, winning their first game since May 2 with a 2-0 victory over the Chicago Red Stars. Kristine Lilly notched her first tally since May 2 and Amy Rodriguez ended her scoreless slump with an early goal. Boston is now 3-0 when Lilly scores.

Likewise, the Freedom come into the game having won on the road in Week 13 against Saint Louis. The Freedom’s 83rd-minute game-winner by Rebecca Moros was the third time this year that the Washington side has scored a clutch goal in the last 10 minutes to either win or tie a game. Abby Wambach will feature at some point although she is hampered by a hamstring injury.

This match will air on the Comcast Sports Network on Wednesday, June 24 at 7 pm ET.








Saint Louis Athletica vs. Los Angeles Sol (8 pm ET)
Anheuser-Busch Soccer Park, Fenton, MO

Saint Louis played Los Angeles tough earlier this season when the Sol visited the Gateway City, earning the Athetica’s first points on the year with a scoreless draw after two losses. But the Sol dominated the return match in Southern California, doubling the Athletica in shots (16-8) and shots on goal (8-4) in their 2-0 victory on May 30.

While the Athletica have a speedy defense which has neutralized forwards Marta and Brittany Bock in previous games, it’s midfielders Sol Camile Abily, Shannon Boxx and Aya Miyama that look to control the midfield possession and build up towards the attack for Los Angeles. For Saint Louis, Eniola Aluko has developed into a proven attacker up front – but the Los Angeles defense has given up only four goals all year and have only one multi-goal game against them this season. Aluko will need some support from Melissa Tancredi or Christie Welsh, who began the season in Los Angeles before being traded to Saint Louis in mid-May.

With a 14 point cushion for Los Angeles over the Athletica, this game is critical for Saint Louis if they want to maintain any hopes of catching the Sol in the race for first and the right to host the WPS Championship on August 20. They are the last of the seven WPS teams to begin the second half of their regular season with only 10 games played thus far.

LA SOL V BOSTON BREAKERS

Running on empty!

The LA Sol and the Boston Breakers played out a 0-0 draw on a hot Sunday afternoon at The Home Depot Center in front of a crowd of over 6,200. It was a rematch after the Breakers gave the Sol their 1st defeat of the season last weekend in Boston.
LA started brightly with the best chance in the sixth minute when Marta's through ball found fellow forward Han Duan in stride outside the penalty area. Duan dribbled around a defender before putting a low shot on the Boston goal that was steered aside for a corner by GK Kristin Luckenbill. The Sol also created a chance a minute later, but a scramble in front of the goal did not result in a clear shot on goal.
Duan had several chances in the 1st half with the first in the 24th minute but her glancing header off a Martina Franko cross sailed clearly over the bar. She also had an opportunity in the 38th minute when Shannon Boxx played a long ball over the Boston defense but her effort banged off the left post with only Luckinbill to beat. At the end of the match a clearly emotional Duan was being comforted by fellow teammates.
In the 2nd half the Breakers were clearly the better team. Pushing for the win first with Kelly Smith sending a dangerous ball into the area but this was cleared by LA's defenders. Boston had a series of dangerous free-kicks which were scrambled away by LA. Amy LePeilbet had a header cleared of the line with 5 minutes to go. It remained scoreless till the end.
Defenders for both teams won the day.Marta and Smith did not get a lot of clearcut chances. Marta was double-teamed , even sometimes triple teamed by Boston. Smith was shadowed by the excellent Brittany Bock who was playing in midfield specifically to contain Smith.
Both teams are very evenly matched. I expect both to be in the play-offs.

"I thought we played a good first half but we lacked quality finishing," said Los Angeles Sol Head Coach Abner Rogers. "Boston is a very good team and you're not going to get many opportunities to score against them. The chances were there today, but we need to finish better."

“Getting the point on the road is not a bad result,” said Breakers head coach Tony DiCicco. “I’m not totally satisfied, but I think it was probably the right result. It was an even game and hard-fought by both teams. I’m proud of the way our players responded in the second half. It was a little hot out here for us and they stood strong through the end, which is a compliment to our fitness staff.”

Lineups :

LOS ANGELES: Karina LeBlanc; Brittany Bock, Stephanie Cox, Martina Franko, Manya Makoski (Katie Larkin, 46th minute), Aly Wagner (Camile Abily, 77th minute), Shannon Boxx, Aya Miyama, Allison Falk; Marta, Han Duan.

BOSTON: Kristin Luckenbill; Alex Scott, Amy LePeilbet, Sue Weber, Heather Mitts (Nancy Augustyniak-Goffi, 78th minute); Angela Hucles, Kristine Lilly, Stacy Bishop (Kasey Moore, 85th minute), Kelly Smith; Kelly Schmedes, Christine Latham (Amy Rodriguez, 51st minute).

BOSTON BREAKERS 2 - 1 LA SOL

High Five!

Kelly Smith shows why she is important to the Boston Breakers and to the WPS.

The Breakers coming of of that 4 - 0 drubbing by Chicago Red Stars were determined to get the win and show their fans just how good they really are. With Smith back in the starting 11 and Amy Rodriguez dropped to the bench they put early pressure on the LA Sol. Heather Mitts set the play in motion with a feed to Kelly Schmedes 12 yards in front of the LA goal. Schmedes’ shot was deflected back to Smith, who fired the ball over Karina LeBlanc’s fingertips and into the upper right corner for the fastest goal in the league this season. 2 minutes on the clock. The Sol had just conceded their 1st goal and the Breakers were on their way.
They went up 2-0 in the 55th minute on a hard run upfield by defender Stacy Bishop, who dished to Kristine Lilly on the left flank. Lilly fought off LA defender Manya Makoski and beat LeBlanc on the far side.

The Boston defence dealt adequately with Marta and the rest of the Sol attack for most of the game. In fact Smith handed out high praise to her back unit. "....it was important to our defenders and keeper to show the level that they can play at. They’re the best defensive unit I’ve ever played with and today they showed it". Wow! high praise indeed from Smith considering the teams she has played with.

LA Sol at times had good possession and good passing. They got through the Boston defence at times but goals were marked off for offside.In the 1st half Marta had few chances but came alive in the 2nd half going on her typical runs from the left to inside. GK Kristin Luckenbill making the saves. They got their goal from an Aya Miyamo free-kick which Brittany Bock headed past Luckenbill in the 63rd minute. Tails up, the Sol pressed forward for the equaliser but the Breakers defence held strong sending most of the 8,031 strong crowd home happy.

"You knew they were going to come out well, and with fairness to them, they scored two quality goals with two quality finishes. I give them credit but I think we played a very good game as well and I was happy with the work we put in". LA Sol's coach Abner Rodgers

Lineups:

Boston Breakers: Kristin Luckinbill; Heather Mitts, Amy LePeilbet, Sue Weber, Alex Scott; Kelly Smith, Angela Hucles, Stacy Bishop; Kelly Schmedes (Kasey Moore: 76), Chritine Latham (Amy Rodriguez: 64), Kristine Lilly (c).

Los Angeles Sol: Karina LeBlanc; Manya Makoski, Matina Franko, Brittany Bock, Stephanie Cox; Camille Abily (Katie Larkin: 75), Shannon Boxx (c), Aya Miyama; Aly Wagner, Han Duan, Marta.

LOS ANGELES SOL V WASHINGTON FREEDOM

Well the first match of the inaugural season has come & gone. The Sol win an entertaining game 2-0. Goals coming from defender Allison Falk and French international midfielder Camille Abily.

The game started of quick with LA playing the better game with their midfield of Shannon Boxx, Aya Miyama & Camille Abily dominating. Washington Freedom players looked like they had stage fright. The first goal came in 6 mins when Japanese star Miyama delivered a perfect ball into the area for Rookie defender Falk to tangle with GK Briana Scurry & head the ball into the net. The Freedom claimed it was a foul on their keeper. From looking at the replays and pictures sometimes i think it was a goal and sometimes not but hey Allison Falk has now officially gone done as the first woman to score in WPS. The ball was taken out of play & Falk will sign it & it will go into the Hall Of Fame. LA continued to make chances with Marta showing some of her skills and keeping the Freedom defence occupied although they dealt with her ok throughout the game.
Toward the end of the half Washington started to put some plays together. Most of that was coming from their left where French international Sonia Bompastor was was being a menace.She put in several balls from the left for striker Wambach. One where Wambach made a great connection but Sol's GK Karina Le Blanc coming of her line to make a great save. To me she was the Freedoms best player of the whole game. Her crossing was on point. For the 2nd half LA coach Abner made a tactical change to contain her.

2nd half - Washington had more of the play where they were pushing forward trying to get the equalizer. The problem they had was Abby was pretty much up there on her own. And all balls went to her. As the season goes on i expect the Freedom to have a plan B, where other players start taking chances and making plays. As much as Washington were pushing forward LA's defence held up with the impressive Brittany Bock at CB. Bock is not a defender per say. She is a combative midfielder that can do a good job as a forward but i guess because Abby was the opposition Coach Abner decided he needed a tough person at the back. She was great.
Freedom nearly scored from a scramble in the box when Lori Lindsey struck the ball from just inside the area only to see the ball hit the right upright on 63 mins.

LA Sol clinched the game from a counterattack when Bock intercepted a cross from a Freedom player and passed the ball to Marta who at first tried a slide ruler pass through to substitute forward Christie Welsh where it came of her heel , Marta picked up the ball again and continued her momentum towards goal at pace attracting the 3 defenders to her. She passed the ball to the oncoming midfielder Abily who was unmarked on the right. Abily took one touch to get closer to goal and then chipped Scurry from just outside the penalty box. It was a sweet goal with great technique from the French woman. A great way to end the game. But you have got to ask what were the defenders thinking and why did no midfield player track Abily's run.She started of on the edge of her own box. I guess that is the Marta effect. The same thing happened in the 2008 Olympic Semi-Final game Brazil v Germany. Marta had the ball & was running on a breakaway towards goal all the German defenders went to her... yes all 4.. but they left Christiane and no midfielder tracked her. Marta passed the ball to Christian who was unmarked and she slotted the ball home.

Overall the game was entertaining i enjoyed watching it. I have no doubt the play will get better as the teams get more games in. My MVP choice was tough i could pick quite a few but i will go with Brittany Bock..she was awesome. Miyama had a good game as well. Best Freedom player by a mile was Sonia Bompastor. Best play Camile Abily's goal. Perfect execution. She ran all the way up the pitch and had composure to lob the keeper.

Line-ups

LA Sol - 23- Le Blanc , 2-Fletcher,11-Bock, 3-Falk , 14-Cox, 20-Abily, 7-Boxx, 22-Makoski,8-Miyami , 10- Marta, 9-Duan

Washington Freedom - 1-Scurry, 21-Singer,4-Whitehill, 22-Sauberman ,11- Janss,9-Long, 6- Lindsey, 10-Sawa ,8- Bompastor,25-Zimmeck, 20-Wambach.