Kelly Smith buried a penalty kick in the 60th minute giving Boston a 2-1 victory over Philadelphia in WPS action on Sunday. The victory moves the Breakers to within two points of the second place Independence.
Philadelphia got on the board first as an Amy Rodriguez shot hit the left post, but Joanna Lohman was there to knock in the rebound to put the Independence up 1-0 in the 17th minute. It was Lohman's fifth goal of the season.
Boston equalized late in the first half. Kristine Lilly played a short corner out to Stephanie Cox who was at the edge of the penalty area. Cox was able to chip the ball over Philly keeper Karina LeBlanc who was off of her line. It was the first WPS goal for Cox.
The game remained tied until Lauren Cheney and Estelle Johnson were chasing a ball into the penalty area, when Johnson took down Cheney while the two were battling for the ball. Smith placed her penalty lower right, with LeBlanc guessing the wrong way. The goal put the Breakers in the lead to stay.
The Breakers nearly made it 3-1 off of another short corner, but Cheney's goal was disallowed for offsides. Later, Caroline Seger appeared to have tied the game for Philadelphia off of Magnusdottir free kick, but the goal was disallowed on what appeared to be a questionable offside call.
Boston moves to 9-7-5 and 32 points. They will travel to Atlanta to play the Beat on Wednesday evening with a chance to sew up a playoff berth. Philadelphia lost their second in a row to drop to 10-8-4 and are still a point short of clinching a playoff spot. The Independence also return to action on Wednesday when they travel to Chicago to face the Red Stars.
Standings
1) FC Gold Pride (14-3-4, 46 pts); 2) Philadelphia (10-8-4, 34 pts); 3) Boston (9-7-5, 32 pts); 4) Washington (7-8-7, 28 pts); 5) Sky Blue FC (7-10-4, 25 pts); 6) Chicago (5-11-6, 21 pts); 7) Atlanta (5-11-5, 20 pts).
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