Boston Breakers 1, Philadelphia Independence 1
The Breakers and the Independence played to a 1-1 draw in Boston's home opener. After a scoreless first half, Kelly Smith put the Breakers on the board in the 50th minute. She took a free kick from about 25 yards and the ball deflected off of a Philadelphia player in the wall and past Karina LeBlanc and just inside the left post.
The lead was short-lived as Philadelphia tied the score just minutes later. A Lori Lindsey free kick from the right side found Allison Falk alone for the header from short range and she made no mistake in putting it away. It was the first ever goal for the Independence. For Falk, it is the 2nd time she has scored a franchise's first goal. Last season, she scored the first WPS goal ever for the Los Angeles Sol.
Jen Buczkowski was sent off after picking up her second yellow card late in the match, but Boston was unable to capitalize.
There was some brief controversy and confusion in the 1st half, when Heather Mitts was called for pulling down Kristine Lilly in the penalty area. The ball was spotted and everything appeared set for the penalty kick, but after conferring with the assistant referee, head referee Bryan Roslund ruled that Lilly was offsides before the foul occured and therefore waived off the penalty kick.
The point means that Boston is now tied for 1st place with Saint Louis at 4 points. The two will meet next Sunday on a nationally televised game on FSC from St. Louis. Philadelphia earned their second straight tie for 2 points and 6th place.
Washington Freedom 3, Atlanta Beat 1
Ramona Bachmann scored the first ever goal for the Beat, but it wasn't enough as the Washington Freedom defeated Atlanta by a 3-1 margin. Abby Wambach scored a 1st half goal and then assisted on two 2nd half goals after Atlanta had briefly tied the game at 1-1. Homare Sawa scored the go ahead goal in the 51st minute and then Christie Welsh added an insurance goal in the 90th minute.
The victory puts the Freedom in a 3-way tie for 3rd place, just one point behind league leaders Saint Louis and Boston. Gold Pride and Sky Blue also have 3 points. Atlanta is tied for 7th with Chicago at 1 point.
0 comments:
Post a Comment