Boston Breakers v Washington Freedom Highlights

BOSTON BREAKERS 1 - 0 WASHINGTON FREEDOM

Christine Latham scored a header off of Heather Mitts’ free kick in the 37th minute to give the Boston Breakers a 1-0 win over the Washington Freedom on Wednesday night at Harvard Stadium in Cambridge, Mass.

The win allows the Breakers (5-4-3, 18 points) to leap over the Freedom (4-4-4, 16 points) into sole possession of second place. It also gave Boston the overall series win for the season against Washington (currently 2-0-1) with one match between the two remaining on July 29. The Freedom drop to third place.

Mitts’ free kick came in the first half from a foul on Kelly Smith in the 37th minute. Mitts stepped in and crossed the ball to Latham on the right side of the goal, who then headed it into the opposite left corner, putting the Breakers up, 1-0. It was the second goal of the season for Latham, both of which were game-winners against the Freedom. The assist was Mitts’ first.

Washington had a chance to tie before halftime in the 44th minute when Lori Lindsey hit a shot from outside the box just wide to the left side of the goal.

Leading up to the goal, both Boston’s Amy Rodriguez and Kelly Smith were knocking on the door with several close calls. Rodriguez put pressure on early, in the 16th minute, when she shot a ball at the top of the net, but Erin McLeod just tipped it over the cross bar. She then sent a cross across the net minutes later, but again McLeod made the save.

Smith rocketed two shots; both from about 30 yards out, one over and the other wide. She also took a free kick after being fouled, which bounced off the cross bar just prior to Latham’s tally.

In the second half, Smith finally hit the back of the net in the 55th minute, when she shot a ball past McLeod to the lower left corner, but the goal was called back for offsides.

Amy Rodriguez, looking to catch another goal after scoring the game winner on Sunday over Chicago, had luck similar to Smith’s, sending several shots just past the goal.

Washington became dangerously close of equalizing the match several times in the second half, outshooting Boston, 6-4, but goalkeeper Ali Lipsher held the win until the final whistle with five saves. It was her second straight shutout in only her third start of the year.

Two of those saves came at the end of the second with the Breakers trying to hold on to the win. Lipsher deflected a shot, creating a scramble in the box, but Alex Scott made the clear before a Washington player could get on the end of it. In the 90th minute, Washington tried one last time to leave with a tie, as Homare Sawa hit a shot that Lipser caught just before it went over the goal line.

The Breakers next game is July 4 against Sky Blue FC in Piscataway, N.J. Sky Blue leads the series 1-0, having defeated Boston 2-1 on May 30.

The Freedom have this weekend off and next play on Wednesday July 1st against Chicago Red Stars at Toyota Park, Chicago. Both previous games between the two have been drawn.

Boston head coach Tony DiCicco

"I thought the first half was probably our best soccer from both an offensive and defensive standpoint. Washington is a good team and we just didn’t let them play in the first half,” he said. “It’s hard because you want to be a little more cautious when you are leading, and they came out hard in the second half. They had some opportunities, and good teams are going to get opportunities."



Freedom head coach Jim Gabarra

"I think we could get the ball, we couldn’t string a pass together. Our first touch was disappointing; we couldn’t play the ball to feet. Part of it might be the surface; we came from Saint Louis where the grass was long and played slow. And we came here on turf, and the field was wet so it is even quicker. We played too slow, we couldn’t possess the ball. Against a team like Boston, as soon as you win the ball, everyone is spreading out, and you give it to the other team, it’s going to create some dangerous situations."

Lineups:

BOSTON: Alli Lipsher; Amy LePeilbet, Sue Weber, Alex Scott, Heather Mitts; Christine Latham (Maggie Tomecka, 62nd minute), Kristine Lilly, Angela Hucles, Kelly Smith,,Sophia Mundy; Amy Rodriguez (Mary Francis Monroe, 71st minute; Kelly Schmedes, 90+2 minute).

CHICAGO: Erin McLeod; Cat Whitehill, Sonia Bompastor, Becky Sauerbrunn, Ali Grieger; Lori Lindsey, Homare Sawa, Kristin DeDycker (Abby Wambach, 54th minute); Jill Gilbeau (Parissa Eyorokon, 70th minute), Lisa DeVanna, Rebecca Moros.

ALEX SCOTT BLOG - May 19th 09

My 1st WPS GOAL!!!

OK, so it is my blog time again, I guess what i am going to talk about,hehe. Everyday at training Tony Dicicco allows players to work on things they may think is a weakness in their game or just generally to improve at the end of training. If you are a goalkeeper you tend to have to go out early before training to get a strong session in before the main one actually starts. Sometimes Lisa Cole (assistant coach) and kaite Shields (goalkeeper coach) will select some players who think will help the goal keepers work. Last week i went out early with a few other teammates and worked on crossing. This week the goalkeepers were going out early and lisa and katie had not asked me...gutted. I think a few of us still went out early hoping we may get in the session anyway. I think Lisa felt sorry for me and asked me if i wanted to join in and help the goalkeepers, well i answered... yeah why not, when really i was jumping up and down inside because i knew it was a shooting session (as a defender you are normally on the other side of drills like this) so i joined in. There was only 3 of us shooting, kristine lilly, Maggie tomaka and myself. We had a little competition going on with the keepers the whole session, they would say something like... "you will only score 6 out of 30 strikes", to challenge themselves and to challenge us. Let me just tell you, sorry goalkeepers, but we beat them in all the drills!! we was hitting some sweet strikes. When we joined the main session that day, Lil told me i best be saving one of them strikes for the game v Washington........ well she was far from wrong.
GAME DAY! Washington are a good team, really one of the best in the league. There passing game and movement is excellent. We knew that with Abby not in the starting line up other players for them really had to step up to the mark and play well, so either way we knew they would come at us hard. Plus when any team has Bompaster in it you know things are not going to be easy. The game started of scrappy and Washington had the better of us the 1st half. They got us on the counter attack and scored a goal midway thru the first half. Our overall passing game was not at the standard it should be and we gave the ball away alot. We needed half time to regroup. Tony told me at half time i was making good runs and to keep on doing it, so thats all i did, no major change to my game. In the 49th minute, the ball got played into latham, who like always holds the ball up well. I overlapped down the right and she found me with a sweet through ball................ (should i now go into movie mode and really glam this part up????????? im to down to earth for that!!!!) so a sweet through ball that i ran onto, i could here kelly smith screaming for it in the box i do not know why i chose to ignore her because if you have kelly screaming for the ball of all players you want to pass the ball to it would be her because you know she can create magic, but for once i thought WHY NOT and i smacked that small piece of leather that we call a soccer ball (football if you are reading this back home) and it flew into the back of the net... YEAH!!!!! My celebration was really whack. If i could go back and change that i would, i do not even think i did anything,ha. Now the oscar speech... i would like to thank Latham for her assist, i would like to thank my teammates, i would like to thank my mum!!!! Get real right, i would have swooped me scoring if we would have got three points, but the truth is we went on to draw the game which i felt was disappointed with because we needed the 3 points to draw away from the rest of the pack (league),. so overall my goal was just another goal scored in the WPS. Plus i know if there are any strikers reading this, they are like.. no big deal, we score all the time, well defenders should cherish moments like that... plus just to let you in on a secret Tony has challenged me and mitts to get goals this season... so mittsay this one was for us.
I am now back home in England. We have a national team camp for a week where we will play a boys academy team at the end of the week which is always a major challenge. Boys are naturally so much faster, which is so not fair. We also attend our national team football awards on Friday where you will get awards for MVP of the league, national team player, young player of the year, coach of the year, special achievement awards etc. kelly will collect an award for top goal scorer in the EPL with 25 goals, and that was with us leaving for Boston in February and the EPL has only just finished, no one could catch her... Wow. Good luck to my USA team mates in there game v Canada. I also have to wish good luck to candice chapman who will be playing for Canada. i really have to sit on the fence and just say, play a good game of soccer, and who ever wins, wins... im such a loser! ok i know i have gone on a bit, so hope you all lasted and you tune in next week. your English Boston breaker Alex Scott

by Alex Scott

Check out the blog here http://community.foxsports.com/blogs/Alex%20Scott

WASHINGTON FREEDOM 1 - 3 BOSTON BREAKERS

The Breakers win again.Courtesy of a flurry of goals in the 2nd half.The first two penalty kicks in league history each turned out favorably for Boston as Kelly Smith opened the scoring from the penalty spot while Kristin Luckenbill saved what would have been a go-ahead Abby Wambach penalty 16 minutes later in the Breakers' 3-1 win over the Washington Freedom on Saturday evening at the Maryland SoccerPlex in Boyds, Md.

Smith put the Breakers in front with her third goal of the season in the 56th minute. Angela Hucles was poleaxed inside the area by Freedom goalkeeper Briana Scurry to lead to the spot kick.

The Freedom came right back and leveled the score just four minutes later on a goal from Lori Lindsey, assisted by Rebecca Moros, and then had a chance to take the lead in the 72nd minute after Boston defender Amy LePeilbet was called for a hand ball in the box. Wambach's penalty attempt was saved by a diving Luckenbill, who read correctly toward the lower right hand corner.

The Breakers made the Freedom pay for the miss by capitalizing four minutes later on a header by second-half substitute Christine Latham. After a nice run by Kristine Lilly led to a Latham cross that was cleared by Scurry, Alex Scott sent the ball back in to Latham, who headed the ball past Scurry. Scott was a machine going up and down the right flank and shackled Sonia Bompastor.Her best game by far in the WPS.

Hucles added to the Breakers lead in the 81st minute with an stunner of a goal from the edge of the penalty area into the upper corner of the goal. A diving Scurry had no chance.

"There was some good and some bad," said Breakers head coach Tony DiCicco. "I thought our back line and our goalkeeper Luckenbill defended very well. Offensively we finished very well in the second half. I didn't think we passed the ball as well as we normally have, and we gave a lot of balls away, but give credit to Washington for that.

"I'm proud of this team though. The best teams find a way to get results even when not playing their best, and I thought we did that tonight."

The teams battled an evenly contested first half with chances on both sides despite the 0-0 scoreline. Boston's best chance of the first half came in the 36th minute when Lilly turned and beat a Freedom defender in side the penalty area, beat Scurry, but had her effort headed away by Becky Sauerbrunn in time to prevent the goal.Washington's best chance was when Wambach was through on goal from a headed flick by Scott only to be superbly tackled in the box by Lepeilbet.


Find more videos like this on Women's Professional Soccer

LINEUPS

WSH: 1 – Scurry (GK), 11 – Janss (3 – Gilbeau, 46’), 4 – Whitehill , 22 – Sauerbrunn , 21 – Singer , 8 – Bompastor, 6 – Lindsey, 9 – Long (19 – Moros, 46’), 10 – Sawa, 20 – Wambach – Capt.), 17 - De Vanna (25 – Zimmeck, 84’)

BOS: 1 – Luckenbill (GK), 2 – Mitts, 6 – LePeilbet, 20 – Weber, 22 – Scott, 10 – Smith, 16 – Hucles, 17 – Moore (4 – Bishop, 61’), 13 – Lilly - Capt.), 3 – Schmedes (5 – Tomecka, 84’), 8 – Rodriquez,(7 – Latham, 68’).

BOSTON BREAKERS FUN....

Christine Latham & Jenny Nobis are crazy! haha