Sky Blue FC 0, Boston 0
In spite of a total of 37 shots, neither team managed to put one in the net. Karen Bardsley for Sky Blue and Ashley Phillips for Boston earned the shutouts. While the Breakers were able to put 10 of their 23 shots on frame, their scoring problems continued. They’ve managed only one goal in the past four matches combined, playing their second scoreless tie in three matches.
Sky Blue saw several of their players returning from injury. Meghan Schnur started, while Tasha Kai came in as a 2nd half substitute. Christie Rampone was activated, but did not play. SBFC moved into a 3rd place tie with Philadelphia, with 11 points, while Boston remains out of a playoff position at 7 points.
Chicago 1, FC Gold Pride 0
Kosovare Asllani scored her first WPS goal on a beautiful cross from Marian Dalmy to give the Red Stars a 1-0 victory over FC Gold Pride. The goal came in the 56th minute of action. For Dalmy, it was her first assist in over a year. She had assisted on Chicago’s first two goals of the 2009 season. Jill Loyden got the shutout for the Red Stars, her second of the season. Marcia McDermott got her first victory as interim coach of the Red Stars.
Gold Pride’s record winning streak was stopped at 5 matches, but they remain in 1st place, just two points ahead of the Freedom. Chicago moved to 7 points to tie Boston in the standings.
Washington 2, Philadelphia 1
The Freedom moved into 2nd place with a 2-1 win over the Philadelphia Independence. Washington opened the scoring in the 25th minute with a nice give and go play between Rebecca Moros and Christie Welsh. After Moros had dropped off a pass to Welsh, she continued her run to the net. She got the return pass from Welsh, found space between Philly defenders and was able to touch the ball past goalkeeper Val Henderson just inside the left post.
Washington doubled their lead less than 10 minutes later. Sonia Bompastor got around Heather Mitts, before she collided with Sara Larsson who was whistled for the penalty. Abby Wambach took the penalty for the Freedom and placed it lower right, with Henderson guessing the wrong way.
Late in the match, Caroline Seger was shown a red card for shoving Sarah Huffman in the face in a battle for the ball between the two. Seger will be forced to miss next week's match against Sky Blue FC.
In spite of being a player down, Philadelphia drew to within one goal on a mixup between the Freedom’s back line and keeper Erin McLeod. Allison Falk sent a long ball into the penalty area which landed between the defense and McLeod, with the Freedom goalie unable to hold the ball cleanly. Lianne Sanderson was there for the Independence and tapped the ball past McLeod into the net. But it was a matter of too little, too late and the Freedom held on for the 2-1 victory.
Washington moved ahead of Philadelphia into 2nd place with 13 points. Philadelphia is tied for 3rd place with 11 points.
WPS Standings
The standings have tightened up considerably after this weekend's action. Gold Pride holds on to 1st place, but their margin is down to 2 points heading into next weekend's showdown with 2nd place Washington.
(1) FC Gold Pride 5-2-0, 15 pts (2) Washington 4-2-1, 13 pts (3) Philadelphia 3-2-2, 11 pts (3) Sky Blue FC 3-2-2, 11 pts (5) x-Saint Louis 2-1-3, 9 pts (6) Chicago 2-4-1, 7 pts (7) Boston 1-2-4, 7 pts (8) Atlanta 0-5-1, 1 pt.
x-Saint Louis has ceased operations.
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