Spiga

April 17, 2011

Lipsher & Lenczyk Lead Beat to 1-0 Victory


Meghan Lenczyk scored her first WPS goal and Allison Lipsher posted a shutout as the Atlanta Beat defeated Sky Blue FC 1-0 at KSU Soccer Stadium on Saturday evening.

Lipsher recorded 11 saves against Sky Blue in her first WPS action since the 2009 season. She spent the 2010 season as a developmental goalkeeper for the Boston Breakers after starting 10 matches in 2009.

"Allie is a class goalkeeper," said Beat coach James Galanis. "She played in Australia for a year and she's played every minute of every game there. She's gained the experience that she needed to take into the WPS. We're very, very proud of her."

Sky Blue appeared to have the edge for most of the match, outshooting Atlanta by an 18-4 margin, but were unable to put anything past Lipsher. The game was scoreless at the half.

Galanis subbed Lenczyk into the match for Kristina Larsen at the half and the move paid instant dividends. In the 50th minute, Lenczyk was able to get the ball past Sky Blue goalkeeper Karen Bardsley with Carrie Dew's sliding effort to keep the ball from crossing the line falling just a bit short.

"I think we worked really hard," said the former Virgina striker. "I think the goal came from us pushing up in the second half. India Trotter played it right in and all I had to do was touch it."

Galanis has shown a lot of confidence in his young players, including Lenczyk. "I just said to her, 'hang in there and the goal is going to come.' And we came out today, and it couldn’t have been more important."

Though Sky Blue was able to keep the pressure on throughout the match, they were never able to finish any of their chances. "Yeah it was very disappointing for us," said SBFC coach Jim Gabarra. "A number of chances were created but we hit the side of the bar, and the keeper kept making a save. We had three or four great opportunities in the first half and probably as many in the second half."

Atlanta improved their record to one win and one loss. They will host Western New York next Sunday. Sky Blue suffered their first loss of the season to go with last week's draw. They have a bye week before traveling to Boston for a May 1st matchup.

magicJack at Philadelphia Independence Match Postponed

The match between magicJack and Philadelphia that was to be played last evening at Widener University was postponed because of strong winds and lightning strikes. No date has been given as of yet for rescheduling the match.

MagicJack will play their home opener next Saturday against the Boston Breakers, before hosting Philadelphia the following Sunday, in what is the Independence's next scheduled match.

Note: Information and quotes for this story was obtained from WPS and Atlanta Beat press releases.

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