Sol, Breakers Set WPS Pace
Women’s Professional Soccer Roundup
Sol overcame California rivals FC Gold Pride 1-0 at the Home Depot Center Sunday, notching their third win from their first three WPS games.
After a scoreless first half, LA’s star striker Marta broke the deadlock in the 47th minute, latching onto an Aly Wagner chip and slotting home for the Brazilian’s third goal of the season. That tally makes Marta joint top goal-scorer in the league, with Boston’s Kelly Smith.
LA Sol Clean Sheet
Perhaps even more impressive than their knack for consistently finding the net, the Los Angeles Sol held their third consecutive clean sheet – the only team in the WPS not to concede a goal so far this season.
“It’s a testament to how well our entire team has played defensively,” says the Sol’s Canadian international goalkeeper Karina Le Blanc. “When our team defends as well as we have lately, it makes my job a lot easier.”
The win lifts LA to top of the league table, three points ahead of Boston Breakers, who recorded an impressive 3-1 win away to Washington Freedom Saturday. England striker Kelly Smith brought her season’s goal tally to three with a perfectly executed penalty in the 56th minute after Freedom keeper Briana Scurry fouled midfielder Angela Hucles.
Wambach Missed Penalty
Freedom also won a penalty decision, for handball, shortly after Lori Lindsay had evened the score at 1-1, but failed to convert to take the lead. Freedom striker Abby Wambach was denied her first WPS goal by Breakers keeper Kristin Luckenbill, who made a diving save. Despite leading the league in shots on goal, USA international Wambach has yet to get her name on the scoresheet.
Canada forward Christine Latham came off the bench to restore the Breakers lead, heading past Scurry from an Alex Scott pass, before Hucles made it 3-1 in the last ten minutes.
Chicago Red Stars Home Opener
Elsewhere in WPS, Chicago Red Stars made their home debut in blustery, wet conditions at Toyota Park against New Jersey’s Sky Blue FC. Despite dominating possession and bombarding the Sky Blue defence with shots and corners, Chicago failed to capitalise particularly on their first half dominance and the two sides battled it out to a goalless draw.
The Red Stars came close to snatching victory in the dying seconds of stoppage time, when winger Karen Carney delivered an inch-perfect cross to Lindsay Tarpley, whose shot was saved by Sky Blue substitute keeper Jenni Branam.
Despite the final scoreline, Red Stars coach Emma Hayes was encouraged by the attacking verve shown by her side. “Our game plan was to use as much width as we can,” said Hayes.
“We’ve been struggling of late to create opportunities out wide. I thought we did a great job of that. The girls executed the game plan and the performance was considerably better than the last two games.”
Brazil forward Cristiane made her first start for Chicago Red Stars as she continues her progress toward full match fitness following injury. “She’s only been with us a few weeks and was injured up until ten days ago,” said Hayes, who brought Cristiane off in the 60th minute. “She’s still building her fitness. At sixty minutes we didn’t want to push it, and she was tired, too. It was a good sixty minutes to get under her belt.”
The result leaves Chicago in third place behind the Breakers and Sol, with five points from three matches, and Sky Blue still seeking their first win.
Next weekend, league leaders Los Angeles Sol travel to winless St Louis Athletica; Chicago Red Stars host league leaders Boston Breakers; and FC Gold Pride versus Washington Freedom will be featured on Fox Soccer Channel, Sunday April 26th.
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