Moving on up: Sky Blue FC defeats the Boston Breakers, 2-1
by womensprosoccer.com - Staff Report
07/12/2009 - 05:02 p.m.
Howard C. Smith | isiphotos.com
Sky Blue FC's Natasha Kai celebrates her third goal of the season with Kacey White.
Boxscore (all statistics contained in this boxscore are unofficial)
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (July 12, 2009) -- For the first time this season, Sky Blue FC can boast a spot in the top four of Women's Professional Soccer. Natasha Kai and Rosana connected for goals and Sky Blue FC held off a late charge to claim a 2-1 victory over the Boston Breakers at Harvard Stadium.
With the win, Sky Blue FC climbed into a third-place tie with the Breakers with both teams holding 5-6-3 records for 18 points. The top four teams qualify for the WPS playoffs. The victory was Sky Blue FC's second straight over Boston and its third in three games this season over the Breakers.
The game started as well as Sky Blue FC could have hoped for as the visiting side built a 2-0 lead in the opening 45 minutes. Kai and Rosana both netted their third goal of the season in the offensive outburst.
Jenni Branam came up with a nice save in the 18th minute off a shot from Boston's Jennie Nobis. Amy Rodriguez rolled a low cross into the box from the right side and Branam was quick to react to the first-time effort from Nobis, kicking the ball away to keep the game scoreless.
Sky Blue FC took control of the game in the 24th minute on a piece of questionable goalkeeping from Breakers 'keeper Ali Lipsher, who also let in a goal directly off a corner kick in Sky Blue FC's 1-0 victory last weekend. Collette McCallum floated a cross forward and Kai flicked a header toward goal from 20 yards out. Lipsher was cheating off her line on the play and the ball bounced into the vacated goal for the 1-0 lead.
In the 37th minute, Sky Blue FC doubled the lead off some brilliant play by Rosana. The Brazilian midfielder started the sequence by finding Heather O'Reilly out in the right side and O'Reilly controlled the ball before sliding a cross into the box. Kai let the ball run past and Rosana, with her back to the goal, stopped the ball with her right foot, spun to her right, and sent a left-footed shot inside the left post from eight yards out for the 2-0 lead.
The Breakers had a few opportunities to get on the board before halftime, the first coming in the 18th minute when Amy Rodriguez crossed the ball across the box to Nobis, who hit the shot at Branam. The Sky Blue FC goalkeeper deflected the save, and Nobis just missed the rebound.
Not long after Sky Blue FC’s second goal, Rodriguez took the ball on a breakaway to the goal in the 40th minute, but Branam came out of net and intercepted it, clearing the ball out of bounds. With one last attempt just before the half, Fabiana, in her Breakers debut, crossed the ball again to Nobis who mis-struck the ball, leaving it for Sky Blue FC defenders to clear out.
In the second 45 minutes, Boston got forward more as the half went on but couldn't find the back of the net until stoppage time.
The teams traded opportunities midway through the second half. Sky Blue FC's McCallum rocketed two shots in the 50th and 52nd minutes, but both went just over the cross bar. In the 65th minute, Candace Chapman had a good chance for the Breakers, but her shot from 10 yards out was wide left. Two minutes later, Lipsher made a nice save by diving to her left to stop a left-footed shot from Kacey White from the top of box. Kelly Schmedes came off the bench and saved a ball on the goal line in the 81st minute before passing it in front of the net, but a defender got to it before one of her Breakers teammates. O’Reilly made a fast breakaway in 85th minute, and toe poked the ball with force, but it went over the goal.
The Breakers got their only goal two minutes into stoppage time off a nice piece of skill from Nobis. Getting the start with leading scorer Kelly Smith on the bench, the Boston forward chested down a pass from Angela Hucles in the box and sent a nice finish into the upper right corner from 12 yards out.
“You can’t argue (our team's) work in the second half. They worked incredibly hard,” said Breakers head coach Tony DiCicco. “Our final pass quality and finishing quality have not been good enough.”
Sky Blue FC returns to New Jersey to host the Washington Freedom on Wednesday, July 15 at 7pm ET/4pm PT while the Boston Breakers will host the Chicago Red Stars also on Wednesday, July 15 at 7pm ET/4pm PT.
Boxscore (all statistics contained in this boxscore are unofficial)
POST-GAME QUOTES
Boston Breakers Quotes
Head Coach Tony DiCicco
“You can’t argue (our team’s) work in the second half. They worked incredibly hard. Our final passes weren’t good enough. Final pass quality and finishing pass quality haven’t been good enough.
“We’ve got three goals from Lilly and five from Smith and we’ve probably scored 13 or 14 goals so now our third double goal scorer is Nobis and she’s played a third of what these others have played. We’ll have to play her more.”
Jennie Nobis
“I don’t think we played horrible. We didn’t capitalize on our chances early like Sky Blue did. I think we had more chances than they did. Capitalization is what is missing and obviously not going down early.
On the standings changing:
“It’s frustrating, but it could change very soon. So many teams are close. We have to regroup (and start) thinking forward.”
On an earlier goal opportunity:
“Fabiana had a great cross to me for a volley, (But I) just missed it on the outside of my foot. That would have changed the momentum of the game. Tony touched base on that at halftime. It’s something I have to work on. I get one chance; I have to capitalize.
Attack on disarray.
“It sometimes feels like we are out of control. On defense we have to have that killer instinct. Some games we have it and those are the games we win. We have a lot to learn from our mistakes and come out and win next time.”
Players getting called to international duty.
“We still have our international players for Wednesday so that is good. We still have a good bench and the subs we have coming in will make a defense. We have to go out with a winning attitude.”
Alex Scott
Stepping up offensely:
“Tony pushed me forward to pick up the pace. We put ourselves in good position and we adjusted to Sky Blue who played a great game.
Struggling offense, take it personally?
“I don’t think I feel added pressure, I’ve got a strong desire to win. It really hurts me to lose. This team has the ability to be in the playoffs. I try and lead by example and try to show the younger players to get the ball and run at players. It’s not the mistake; it’s what you do after the mistake.”
On the Breakers’ 0-3 record against Sky Blue FC:
“Sky Blue showed more effort; they outworked us. Their forward line worked hard against us the whole game.”
Sky Blue FC Quotes:
Natasha Kai
“We came out strong with our first time playing on turf. We wanted to score early and stay composed; we knew the goals would come. We got one in the 24th or 25th minute. Two goals in the first (half). We knew they were going to come out hard in the second half. They got one in stoppage time, but we held off. That’s what it’s going to take to win games. We fought hard as a team and the people who came off the bench did a great job.”
Thoughts during halftime:
“We knew we won the first half and we knew they were going to come out hard. We are lucky they only got one in but Branam came up big for us.”
Heather O’Reilly
“I think we were very, very pleased with the first half. We got the goals and the finishes we were looking for all season. Great job by Rosana to finish the second goal. We still have to work on managing the game and continuing to play good soccer in the second half when we are up. We’ll learn from things we did in the second half. We need to keep focused on the next 5 or 6 weeks of the season.”
“We were very pleased walking into that locker room. Let’s not make this too hard on us, let’s not turn off and give away an early one and then scrap the rest of the second half. We are happy with our defense. It was a world class finish at the end, but we have to say what a great finish it was. We are soccer players and perfectionists, but we will be happy to get back to Jersey.”