Lindsey Wins Player of the Week
Lori Lindsey was named WPS player of the week on the strength of her 3 assists against the Washington Freedom. Philadelphia defeated Washington 3-1 for their first victory ever. The 3 assists in a game by Lindsey is a WPS record. Lindsey has assisted on all 4 Independence goals this season and has helped lead her team to a competitive 1-0-2 record, good for 3rd place in the league. She is also a leading candidate for the WPS Player of the Month award.
Using Their Heads and Whatever Else Works
There were a lot of key goals scored so far this season on headers. This past weekend, Allison Falk gave her team a 2-1 lead, heading in a free kick serve from Lindsey. The previous week, Falk had tied Boston 1-1 on a similar play. Carrie Dew got a late winner against Atlanta with her header in the 90th minute after coming close several times earlier in the match. Meanwhile in Saint Louis, Carolyn Blank scored the game-tying goal in what she described as "part chest, part shoulder, part upper body." Defensive players do seem to be scoring more goals this season, mostly coming on set pieces via the header.
Around the League
Atlanta Beat - Goalkeeper Allison Whitworth has already faced 29 shots on goal, 10 more than Hope Solo, who is 2nd in that category.....Angie Kerr earned her first WPS point with an assist on Monica Ocampo's goal against Gold Pride.....The Beat will play their 4th consecutive road game this week against Philadelphia. They open their new stadium on May 9 against Sky Blue FC.
Boston Breakers - Kasey Moore became the first Breakers’ defender to score a goal since Alex Scott scored on May 17, 2009 against Washington.....Kristine Lilly picked up her 2nd assist of the season on Moore's goal.....3 of Boston’s 4 goals have come on set pieces, two on corner kicks and one on a free kick. Meanwhile, 2 of their opponent’s 3 goals have come on set pieces.
Chicago Red Stars - Jill Loyden has not given up more than one goal in any of her 6 career starts.....The Red Stars have outshot all 3 opponents, but only have one goal and one point to show for it.....The Red Stars travel to Boston this week, having not scored a goal in their last 7 road games. Their last road goal was scored by Cristiane in a 1-1 tie on June 7, 2009.
FC Gold Pride - Carrie Dew’s game winning goal started with a flip throw by Kiki Bosio. Ali Riley sent Bosio's throw back to Dew for the assist.....Gold Pride's two top draft selections, Riley and Kelley O'Hara have played every minute of the first 3 matches.....Gold Pride is now undefeated in their last 5 home games dating back to 2009, with a 3-0-2 record over that time.
Philadelphia Independence - Val Henderson earned her 2nd career goalkeeping victory in as many starts. She shut out Gold Pride in her only 2009 appearance.....Lianne Sanderson became the 3rd English National team player to score already this year. She joins Eni Aluko and Kelly Smith, who have two goals apiece.....Allison Falk now has three career goals, all by headers and all on set pieces.
Saint Louis Athletica - Carolyn Blank, the 46th overall pick in this year’s draft, became the lowest draft choice ever to score a goal in WPS.....Tina Ellertson picked up her first career assist and has now started 23 consecutive games for Athletica.....Sunday’s match marked the first time that Saint Louis had come from behind to tie a match.
Sky Blue FC - Karen Bardsley has two shutouts this season which currently leads WPS in that category.....Tasha Kai already has two game winning goals this season. Last year, she was credited with none, although her July 12th goal against Boston put her SBFC side ahead for good.....Sky Blue has now shut out Chicago 6 consecutive times.
Washington Freedom - In spite of Sunday’s loss, Abby Wambach recorded an assist for the 4th consecutive match.....When Meagan McCray entered the game against Philadelphia, she became the 5th different goalkeeper that the Freedom has used over two seasons.....Including last year's playoff match, Becky Sauerbrunn has now played 2160 consecutive minutes for the Freedom and she has yet to be miss a minute on the field.
Trivia Question - How many current Saint Louis Athletica players, including developmental and injured reserve players, have at least one cap for a senior National Team (any country)?
Showing posts with label Carrie Dew. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Carrie Dew. Show all posts
April 28, 2010
April 24, 2010
Gold Pride Edges Beat on Late Goal by Dew
Carrie Dew's header in the 90th minute gave FC Gold Pride a 2-1 victory over the Atlanta Beat on Saturday night at Castro Valley Athletic Stadium. It is the first time that Gold Pride has won two consecutive games in the team's history.
Tiffeny Milbrett opened the scoring in 11th minute, assisted by Camille Abily. Monica Ocampo got the equalizer for Atlanta in the 25th minute, assisted by Angie Kerr. The 1st half ended with the score tied at one.
Both teams traded chances in the 2nd half, with no scoring until the deciding goal in the closing minute. A Kiki Bosio flip throw started the scoring sequence, which was headed by an Atlanta player, but recovered by Ali Riley who flicked the ball back toward the goal with Dew finishing.
Tobin Heath, the 1st selection in the January draft, came off the field injured in the 1st half and had to be carried off the field. Later, Ramona Bachmann went down, but she returned to action.
Gold Pride was playing without Christine Sinclair and Candace Chapman, who were away on national team duty for Canada. Atlanta was missing Kia McNeill who was suspended for the game.
The victory gives Gold Pride 1st place for the moment with 6 points, pending the outcome of tomorrow's contests.
Tiffeny Milbrett opened the scoring in 11th minute, assisted by Camille Abily. Monica Ocampo got the equalizer for Atlanta in the 25th minute, assisted by Angie Kerr. The 1st half ended with the score tied at one.
Both teams traded chances in the 2nd half, with no scoring until the deciding goal in the closing minute. A Kiki Bosio flip throw started the scoring sequence, which was headed by an Atlanta player, but recovered by Ali Riley who flicked the ball back toward the goal with Dew finishing.
Tobin Heath, the 1st selection in the January draft, came off the field injured in the 1st half and had to be carried off the field. Later, Ramona Bachmann went down, but she returned to action.
Gold Pride was playing without Christine Sinclair and Candace Chapman, who were away on national team duty for Canada. Atlanta was missing Kia McNeill who was suspended for the game.
The victory gives Gold Pride 1st place for the moment with 6 points, pending the outcome of tomorrow's contests.
June 9, 2009
WPS Draft Revisited-FC Gold Pride
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Labels: Carrie Dew, Christina DiMartino, FC Gold Pride, Leigh Ann Robinson, Tiffany Weimer
Labels: Carrie Dew, Christina DiMartino, FC Gold Pride, Leigh Ann Robinson, Tiffany Weimer
For the second installment on the 2009 WPS draft, we'll take a look at FC Gold Pride.
Who They Drafted
1st round (#3)-Christina DiMartino, UCLA; 2nd round (#12)-Carrie Dew, Notre Dame; 3rd round (#17)-Tiffany Weimer, Penn State; 4th round (#26)-Marisa Abegg, Stanford; 5th round (#31)-Ameera Abdullah, Florida; 6th round (#40)-Leigh Ann Robinson, San Diego; 7th round (#45)-Brandi Chastain, Santa Clara; 8th round (#54)-Allison Whitworth, Auburn; 9th round (#59)-Alissa Oldenkamp, Arizona State; 10th round (#68)-Stacie Alberico, San Jose State.
Strategy
FC Gold Pride started by taking two young players, both with extensive experience on the US Junior National Teams, with DiMartino and Dew. They followed that by taking the 2nd oldest player taken in the first three rounds and one with international club experience, Tiffany Weimer. In later rounds, they took two of the oldest players drafted, Brandi Chastain and Stacie Alberico. There doesn't seem to be any preference as to age, geographic area, or position. Although Gold Pride did pick several players from the traditional west coast powers, they also looked east for a few of their picks.
Current WPS Status
For FC Gold Pride, 7 of their 10 draft picks are still on the roster, 3 were released.
Full time starters (4)-DiMartino, Dew, Weimer, Robinson.
Part time starters & other full roster players (2)-Chastain, Whitworth.
Developmental players (1)-Abegg.
Released (3)-Abdullah, Oldenkamp, Alberico.
What They've Done
DiMartino-9 G, 9 GS, 774 Min, 9 shots, 4 SOG
Dew-8 G, 8 GS, 638 Min, 1 goal, 2 points, 4 shots, 2 SOG
Weimer-10 G, 8 GS, 583 Min, 1 goal, 3 assists, 5 points, 14 shots, 5 SOG
Robinson-10 G, 8 GS, 705 Min, 1 goal, 2 points, 3 shots, 2 SOG
Abegg-2 G, 1 GS, 126 Min
Chastain-3 G, 53 Min, 2 shots
Whitworth-1 G, 1 GS, 90 Min, 6 saves, 2.00 GA
Total Offensive Output-42 G, 34 GS, 2879 Min, 3 goals, 3 assists, 9 points, 32 shots, 13 SOG.
Total Goalkeeper Output-1 G, 1 GS, 90 Min, 6 saves, 2.00 GA.
G=Games; GS=Games Started; Min=Minutes; SOG=Shots on Goal; GA=Goals Against Average.
The Players
Christina DiMartino-Though often overshadowed by her midfield teammates, DiMartino has played well for FC Gold Pride. In the game I saw her play in person, there were periods where she seemed to be all over the field. She maneuvers well in tight space and is good at distributing the ball. She is probably the best young player in the league with the ball at her feet. Her size prevents her from being a force in the air and she can be muscled off the ball on occasion, but her quick feet can also dispossess opponents. Her skills probably fit Gold Pride as well as any team in the league as they concentrate on passing and possession. I don't know if she will ever be a great player, but she can be very, very good.
Carrie Dew-Talk about a roller coaster season, Dew has had one. I thought she was an excellent pick at #12. She started the first game at holding midfielder and did a nice job frustrating Kelly Smith for the 1st half of that game. She followed that with a goal against Sky Blue. Then she missed nearly two full games because of injury, but seemed to be settling in after that, until.... She had a rough time of it againt the Sol, getting called on a foul and penalty, and was beaten a few times by the speedy LA attackers. Then came the double yellow card against Washington and suspension. Like Rachel Buehler and Leslie Osborne, she goes in strong on the tackle, but she needs to be more discriminating as to when she uses that talent. Dew's height and athleticism make her a natural in the air. I still think she was a solid pick and a good player. Her main position in college was center back, but she has also been used at defensive mid with Gold Pride and I wonder if that might ultimately be her better position.
Tiffany Weimer-No player burst onto the WPS scene with a bigger splash than Weimer. Her 1st half against Boston in the opener was a great half of soccer. She has excellent ball skills and can be a magician at times. About the best compliment I can pay her is that she thinks like a Brazilian, always looking to create and in fact, she did spend time with Santos. Sometimes, it seems like she attempts to do too much with the dribble, but that could be because the mids are slow in support. She had a goal and three assists in her first four games. But then, what happened? She was very quiet against Athletica and then spent a large portion of the next three games on the bench. In her last 5 games, she has attempted only 2 shots. I hope that Weimer can bounce back from this lull, because she is truly a joy to watch when she's at her best.
Marisa Abegg-Abegg started the year as a developmental player, but she saw her first action against the Freedom, followed by a start and a full 90 against Chicago due to Dew's suspension and Wilson's injury. She and former teammate Allison Falk helped to form one of the best back lines in college soccer at Stanford.
Leigh Ann Robinson-The 6th round pick has contributed nicely to Gold Pride, playing in all 10 games and starting eight. Like teammate Kandace Wilson, she can be dangerous making overlapping runs, although she doesn't quite have Wilson's blazing speed. She scored the game winning goal, coming off the bench in the 2nd Sky Blue game with a nice run and beautiful finish. It seems to me, at least at this point in her career, that she is much more comfortable going forward than defending.
Brandi Chastain-You have to take your hat off to any player that can compete in this league at age 40. She's still in top shape, although the amount of quality minutes that she can give has surely declined. She's been bothered with injuries, but has looked pretty good in the games she has played and she just missed scoring a goal on a header against Los Angeles.
Allison Whitworth-With Nicole Barnhart's call up, she got the start against the Sol, not exactly the easiest debut. She played outstanding, making several nice saves and keeping her team in the game. It was impressive that the young keeper didn't let the penalty rattle her and she actually seemed to gain confidence as the game wore on. She makes sound decisions and has good height and quickness. She could be a prime target in the expansion draft.
Summary
Gold Pride has gotten a lot out of their draft. DiMartino is already a good player and has one of the best skill sets of any young player in the league. Dew was a solid pick and with some experience, she should be a fine player for many years. Weimer could have been the steal of the draft at #17, but she needs to be more consistent. Gold Pride also did pretty well in the bottom half of the draft with Robinson and Whitworth. Abegg, given time and experience, could develop into a nice player. Quite frankly, I was shocked that Abdullah didn't make the team. The one thing I can perhaps fault this group on is their consistency.
I think perhaps the biggest problem is that, with Wilson's injury, Gold Pride is now getting absolutely zilch out of the October draft. Therefore, several of these players are being pushed into roles before they have had time to develop. I'm puzzled that they didn't keep Jill Oakes, injury or not, to give them more depth and experience on defense, which may have helped young players like Dew and Robinson. Still, it's a pretty good draft when you can get four starters out of it.
Who They Drafted
1st round (#3)-Christina DiMartino, UCLA; 2nd round (#12)-Carrie Dew, Notre Dame; 3rd round (#17)-Tiffany Weimer, Penn State; 4th round (#26)-Marisa Abegg, Stanford; 5th round (#31)-Ameera Abdullah, Florida; 6th round (#40)-Leigh Ann Robinson, San Diego; 7th round (#45)-Brandi Chastain, Santa Clara; 8th round (#54)-Allison Whitworth, Auburn; 9th round (#59)-Alissa Oldenkamp, Arizona State; 10th round (#68)-Stacie Alberico, San Jose State.
Strategy
FC Gold Pride started by taking two young players, both with extensive experience on the US Junior National Teams, with DiMartino and Dew. They followed that by taking the 2nd oldest player taken in the first three rounds and one with international club experience, Tiffany Weimer. In later rounds, they took two of the oldest players drafted, Brandi Chastain and Stacie Alberico. There doesn't seem to be any preference as to age, geographic area, or position. Although Gold Pride did pick several players from the traditional west coast powers, they also looked east for a few of their picks.
Current WPS Status
For FC Gold Pride, 7 of their 10 draft picks are still on the roster, 3 were released.
Full time starters (4)-DiMartino, Dew, Weimer, Robinson.
Part time starters & other full roster players (2)-Chastain, Whitworth.
Developmental players (1)-Abegg.
Released (3)-Abdullah, Oldenkamp, Alberico.
What They've Done
DiMartino-9 G, 9 GS, 774 Min, 9 shots, 4 SOG
Dew-8 G, 8 GS, 638 Min, 1 goal, 2 points, 4 shots, 2 SOG
Weimer-10 G, 8 GS, 583 Min, 1 goal, 3 assists, 5 points, 14 shots, 5 SOG
Robinson-10 G, 8 GS, 705 Min, 1 goal, 2 points, 3 shots, 2 SOG
Abegg-2 G, 1 GS, 126 Min
Chastain-3 G, 53 Min, 2 shots
Whitworth-1 G, 1 GS, 90 Min, 6 saves, 2.00 GA
Total Offensive Output-42 G, 34 GS, 2879 Min, 3 goals, 3 assists, 9 points, 32 shots, 13 SOG.
Total Goalkeeper Output-1 G, 1 GS, 90 Min, 6 saves, 2.00 GA.
G=Games; GS=Games Started; Min=Minutes; SOG=Shots on Goal; GA=Goals Against Average.
The Players
Christina DiMartino-Though often overshadowed by her midfield teammates, DiMartino has played well for FC Gold Pride. In the game I saw her play in person, there were periods where she seemed to be all over the field. She maneuvers well in tight space and is good at distributing the ball. She is probably the best young player in the league with the ball at her feet. Her size prevents her from being a force in the air and she can be muscled off the ball on occasion, but her quick feet can also dispossess opponents. Her skills probably fit Gold Pride as well as any team in the league as they concentrate on passing and possession. I don't know if she will ever be a great player, but she can be very, very good.
Carrie Dew-Talk about a roller coaster season, Dew has had one. I thought she was an excellent pick at #12. She started the first game at holding midfielder and did a nice job frustrating Kelly Smith for the 1st half of that game. She followed that with a goal against Sky Blue. Then she missed nearly two full games because of injury, but seemed to be settling in after that, until.... She had a rough time of it againt the Sol, getting called on a foul and penalty, and was beaten a few times by the speedy LA attackers. Then came the double yellow card against Washington and suspension. Like Rachel Buehler and Leslie Osborne, she goes in strong on the tackle, but she needs to be more discriminating as to when she uses that talent. Dew's height and athleticism make her a natural in the air. I still think she was a solid pick and a good player. Her main position in college was center back, but she has also been used at defensive mid with Gold Pride and I wonder if that might ultimately be her better position.
Tiffany Weimer-No player burst onto the WPS scene with a bigger splash than Weimer. Her 1st half against Boston in the opener was a great half of soccer. She has excellent ball skills and can be a magician at times. About the best compliment I can pay her is that she thinks like a Brazilian, always looking to create and in fact, she did spend time with Santos. Sometimes, it seems like she attempts to do too much with the dribble, but that could be because the mids are slow in support. She had a goal and three assists in her first four games. But then, what happened? She was very quiet against Athletica and then spent a large portion of the next three games on the bench. In her last 5 games, she has attempted only 2 shots. I hope that Weimer can bounce back from this lull, because she is truly a joy to watch when she's at her best.
Marisa Abegg-Abegg started the year as a developmental player, but she saw her first action against the Freedom, followed by a start and a full 90 against Chicago due to Dew's suspension and Wilson's injury. She and former teammate Allison Falk helped to form one of the best back lines in college soccer at Stanford.
Leigh Ann Robinson-The 6th round pick has contributed nicely to Gold Pride, playing in all 10 games and starting eight. Like teammate Kandace Wilson, she can be dangerous making overlapping runs, although she doesn't quite have Wilson's blazing speed. She scored the game winning goal, coming off the bench in the 2nd Sky Blue game with a nice run and beautiful finish. It seems to me, at least at this point in her career, that she is much more comfortable going forward than defending.
Brandi Chastain-You have to take your hat off to any player that can compete in this league at age 40. She's still in top shape, although the amount of quality minutes that she can give has surely declined. She's been bothered with injuries, but has looked pretty good in the games she has played and she just missed scoring a goal on a header against Los Angeles.
Allison Whitworth-With Nicole Barnhart's call up, she got the start against the Sol, not exactly the easiest debut. She played outstanding, making several nice saves and keeping her team in the game. It was impressive that the young keeper didn't let the penalty rattle her and she actually seemed to gain confidence as the game wore on. She makes sound decisions and has good height and quickness. She could be a prime target in the expansion draft.
Summary
Gold Pride has gotten a lot out of their draft. DiMartino is already a good player and has one of the best skill sets of any young player in the league. Dew was a solid pick and with some experience, she should be a fine player for many years. Weimer could have been the steal of the draft at #17, but she needs to be more consistent. Gold Pride also did pretty well in the bottom half of the draft with Robinson and Whitworth. Abegg, given time and experience, could develop into a nice player. Quite frankly, I was shocked that Abdullah didn't make the team. The one thing I can perhaps fault this group on is their consistency.
I think perhaps the biggest problem is that, with Wilson's injury, Gold Pride is now getting absolutely zilch out of the October draft. Therefore, several of these players are being pushed into roles before they have had time to develop. I'm puzzled that they didn't keep Jill Oakes, injury or not, to give them more depth and experience on defense, which may have helped young players like Dew and Robinson. Still, it's a pretty good draft when you can get four starters out of it.
June 2, 2009
WPS Midweek-Chicago Red Stars at Los Angeles Sol
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Labels: 2009 WPS, Carrie Dew, Chicago Red Stars, Kelly Smith, Los Angeles Sol, Saint Louis Athletica, UNC
Labels: 2009 WPS, Carrie Dew, Chicago Red Stars, Kelly Smith, Los Angeles Sol, Saint Louis Athletica, UNC
Chicago travels to Los Angeles for the league's first midweek contest on Wednesday night. The game will be webcast at http://www.losangelessol.com/ starting at 7:25pm pacific/10:25pm eastern. It is a story of two teams going in opposite directions, Los Angeles solidly in first place, while the Red Stars have suffered three straight losses and have been outscored 5-0 over that time.
The Sol are coming off of a relatively easy 2-0 victory over Saint Louis Athletica. Karina LeBlanc earned her 7th shutout in 8 starts. Opponents (actually one opponent) have scored only 2 goals against Los Angeles. In front of LeBlanc is a strong back line of Brittany Bock, Martina Franko, Allison Falk, Stephanie Cox, and sometimes Manya Makoski, when she's not patrolling in the midfield.
Marta has only scored once in the last five games, but that doesn't mean she hasn't contributed in the offensive end. She picked up an assist Saturday on Camille Abily's goal. Shannon Boxx scored the other Los Angeles goal, making it two for the midfielders. About the only thing missing for the Sol is to get Han Duan more involved in the offense.
It seems like Chicago ought to be a better attacking team, but they have shown it on only one occasion, a 4-0 victory over Boston. The Red Stars have gone an incredible 308 minutes without a goal. A few Red Star players have scored recently though. Megan Rapinoe and Lindsay Tarpley both scored for the US National Team a week ago and Cristiane scored in an exhibition game against the Chicago Red Eleven. Maybe, this will give them some confidence heading into Wednesday night's game. One would think that between Rapinoe, Tarpley, Cristiane, and Karen Carney, that one of them would catch fire soon.
The Red Stars have played pretty well defensively, although they aren't as invincible as they appeared earlier in the season. Their back line of Marian Dalmy, Nikki Krzysik, Ifeoma Dieke, and Chioma Igwe has been strong, outside of Dieke's hard luck own goal against Saint Louis. The Red Stars' midfield play has been spotty as of late and that's one area they need to improve. Coach Emma Hayes moved Frida Östberg up from the back line, but that move doesn't appear to be working and Carli Lloyd has been ineffective at times.
Lloyd was injured while training for the US-Canada match and is listed as being "out" for this game. Östberg will likely move back to defender, as Ifeoma Dieke is also listed as being "out" for the game with a hamstring injury. In addition, the Red Stars will be without oft-injured Heather Garriock. For the Sol, Aly Wagner is listed as "unlikely."
So what we have is a matchup between one team that hasn't given up a goal for over 300 minutes against a team that hasn't scored in over 300 minutes. A shutout would be the logical conclusion, but I've got to believe the Red Stars are going to come out of this funk and get a goal, even if it doesn't mean a victory. Missing Dieke will hurt Chicago's defense. A Sol victory gives them a nearly insurmountable 11 point lead on the rest of the league at only the halfway point in the season. There's really no reason to think that they won't accomplish that.
Other WPS Notes...
The Washington Freedom have taken over 2nd place with their victory over FC Gold Pride. The Freedom are now unbeaten over their last five games with a 3-0-2 record. They continue to pour in goals, having scored 3 or more goals on three different occasions. They lead the WPS with a total of 15 goals in just 8 games. They have still yet to post a shutout, however, but have held their opponents to just one goal a game over their past three matches since Erin McLeod took over goalkeeper duties.
Kelly Smith grabbed the league scoring leadership with her goal in a losing cause against Sky Blue. Smith finished off an Alex Scott cross after SBFC's keeper Jen Branam had trouble handling it and the ball slid behind her. Smith now has five goals for the year, but has had recurring knee problems and went down with an injury late in the first half of that game.
If you were seeing blue on Sunday, chances are you were watching the Sky Blue FC-Boston Breaker match. Both sides wore blue uniforms, Sky Blue in their light (Carolina) blue home jerseys and Boston in their darker blue home jerseys. I can only guess that someone decided that Boston's road whites were more similar to Sky Blue's home colors than their dark blues. Fittingly, there were six North Carolina alums on the field at the same time. Boston had Kristine Lilly and Maggie Tomecka, while Sky Blue had Yael Averbuch, Jen Branam, Heather O'Reilly, and Kacey White. White scored what proved to be the game winning goal. All in all, it was a very blue day in Piscataway, New Jersey.
Gold Pride defender Carrie Dew has had a rough couple of weeks. Two weekends ago, she was whistled for a foul resulting in a penalty and a goal for Los Angeles, on what was a very close play. This past weekend, Dew received back-to-back yellows resulting in an ejection. Dew was whistled for a foul and given a yellow for a hard tackle on Abby Wambach of the Freedom. Apparently, she made a remark to the referee about the call and quickly received a second yellow. Quite frankly, I've seen far worse fouls go uncarded this year, although I know the league has been trying to crack down on rough play recently.
When Saint Louis takes the field this weekend against Sky Blue FC, they will be playing at their 7th different venue in 8 games. This wouldn't be so unusual except that three of those venues have been for home games. Athletica opened the season at Korte Stadium at SIU-Edwardsville and played their 1st and 3rd home games there. In between, they played Los Angeles at Hermann Field at Saint Louis University. Now, the team is moving its remaing home games to Soccer Park in Fenton, Missouri.
The Sol are coming off of a relatively easy 2-0 victory over Saint Louis Athletica. Karina LeBlanc earned her 7th shutout in 8 starts. Opponents (actually one opponent) have scored only 2 goals against Los Angeles. In front of LeBlanc is a strong back line of Brittany Bock, Martina Franko, Allison Falk, Stephanie Cox, and sometimes Manya Makoski, when she's not patrolling in the midfield.
Marta has only scored once in the last five games, but that doesn't mean she hasn't contributed in the offensive end. She picked up an assist Saturday on Camille Abily's goal. Shannon Boxx scored the other Los Angeles goal, making it two for the midfielders. About the only thing missing for the Sol is to get Han Duan more involved in the offense.
It seems like Chicago ought to be a better attacking team, but they have shown it on only one occasion, a 4-0 victory over Boston. The Red Stars have gone an incredible 308 minutes without a goal. A few Red Star players have scored recently though. Megan Rapinoe and Lindsay Tarpley both scored for the US National Team a week ago and Cristiane scored in an exhibition game against the Chicago Red Eleven. Maybe, this will give them some confidence heading into Wednesday night's game. One would think that between Rapinoe, Tarpley, Cristiane, and Karen Carney, that one of them would catch fire soon.
The Red Stars have played pretty well defensively, although they aren't as invincible as they appeared earlier in the season. Their back line of Marian Dalmy, Nikki Krzysik, Ifeoma Dieke, and Chioma Igwe has been strong, outside of Dieke's hard luck own goal against Saint Louis. The Red Stars' midfield play has been spotty as of late and that's one area they need to improve. Coach Emma Hayes moved Frida Östberg up from the back line, but that move doesn't appear to be working and Carli Lloyd has been ineffective at times.
Lloyd was injured while training for the US-Canada match and is listed as being "out" for this game. Östberg will likely move back to defender, as Ifeoma Dieke is also listed as being "out" for the game with a hamstring injury. In addition, the Red Stars will be without oft-injured Heather Garriock. For the Sol, Aly Wagner is listed as "unlikely."
So what we have is a matchup between one team that hasn't given up a goal for over 300 minutes against a team that hasn't scored in over 300 minutes. A shutout would be the logical conclusion, but I've got to believe the Red Stars are going to come out of this funk and get a goal, even if it doesn't mean a victory. Missing Dieke will hurt Chicago's defense. A Sol victory gives them a nearly insurmountable 11 point lead on the rest of the league at only the halfway point in the season. There's really no reason to think that they won't accomplish that.
Other WPS Notes...
The Washington Freedom have taken over 2nd place with their victory over FC Gold Pride. The Freedom are now unbeaten over their last five games with a 3-0-2 record. They continue to pour in goals, having scored 3 or more goals on three different occasions. They lead the WPS with a total of 15 goals in just 8 games. They have still yet to post a shutout, however, but have held their opponents to just one goal a game over their past three matches since Erin McLeod took over goalkeeper duties.
Kelly Smith grabbed the league scoring leadership with her goal in a losing cause against Sky Blue. Smith finished off an Alex Scott cross after SBFC's keeper Jen Branam had trouble handling it and the ball slid behind her. Smith now has five goals for the year, but has had recurring knee problems and went down with an injury late in the first half of that game.
If you were seeing blue on Sunday, chances are you were watching the Sky Blue FC-Boston Breaker match. Both sides wore blue uniforms, Sky Blue in their light (Carolina) blue home jerseys and Boston in their darker blue home jerseys. I can only guess that someone decided that Boston's road whites were more similar to Sky Blue's home colors than their dark blues. Fittingly, there were six North Carolina alums on the field at the same time. Boston had Kristine Lilly and Maggie Tomecka, while Sky Blue had Yael Averbuch, Jen Branam, Heather O'Reilly, and Kacey White. White scored what proved to be the game winning goal. All in all, it was a very blue day in Piscataway, New Jersey.
Gold Pride defender Carrie Dew has had a rough couple of weeks. Two weekends ago, she was whistled for a foul resulting in a penalty and a goal for Los Angeles, on what was a very close play. This past weekend, Dew received back-to-back yellows resulting in an ejection. Dew was whistled for a foul and given a yellow for a hard tackle on Abby Wambach of the Freedom. Apparently, she made a remark to the referee about the call and quickly received a second yellow. Quite frankly, I've seen far worse fouls go uncarded this year, although I know the league has been trying to crack down on rough play recently.
When Saint Louis takes the field this weekend against Sky Blue FC, they will be playing at their 7th different venue in 8 games. This wouldn't be so unusual except that three of those venues have been for home games. Athletica opened the season at Korte Stadium at SIU-Edwardsville and played their 1st and 3rd home games there. In between, they played Los Angeles at Hermann Field at Saint Louis University. Now, the team is moving its remaing home games to Soccer Park in Fenton, Missouri.
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