WPS Friday Night - FC Gold Pride at Boston

This is a rare WPS Friday night contest, matching up 1st place FC Gold Pride with the Boston Breakers at Harvard Stadium. Rosters are tentative.

FC Gold Pride at Boston Breakers – May 14 (7:30 pm ET, 4:30 pm PT)
Harvard Stadium, Cambridge, MA.

Rosters:
FC Gold Pride: GK-N. Barnhart, B. Cameron; D-R. Buehler, A. Riley, K. Wilson, C. Chapman (questionable-shoulder), K. Graczyk, K. Fountain; MF-Marta, B. Edwards, S. Gulbrandsen (questionable-quad), C. Dew, K. Yokers; F-C. Sinclair, T. Milbrett, K. Bosio.
Not Active: K. O’Hara (heel), C. Abily (ankle), E. Guthrie, R. Tantillo, A. Bowyer.

Boston: GK-A. Phillips, A. Naeher, A. Lipsher; D-A. LePeilbet, K. Moore, A. Scott, S. Cox, J. Angeli; MF-L. Osborne, K. Lilly, Fabiana (probable-quad), C. Igwe, L. Bogus; F-K. Smith, L. Cheney, L. Del Rio, T. Weimer, T. Hemmings.
Not Active: S. Walsh (knee), M. Enyeart (knee), M. Tomecka (ankle), C. Zimmeck (foot), A. Marquez.

Previous Meetings (2009):
Boston 1 @ FC Gold Pride 2
FC Gold Pride 1 @ Boston 1
Boston 1 @ FC Gold Pride 0

What to Look For: FCGP rides a four game winning streak into this contest and will break a record if they can record a 5th. Gold Pride will be missing two key elements of their offense due to injuries, O’Hara and Abily. Barnhart has consecutive shutouts for the first time in her WPS career. While Sinclair and O’Hara have had good seasons so far, Marta has been relatively quiet with just 1 goal. Boston has been shutout in consecutive matches and needs to jumpstart their offense. They are winless since their opener, the only match in their last 14 in which they have scored more than one goal. Phillips earned her first career shutout last weekend and she has a solid defense in front of her with the quartet of LePeilbet, Scott, Cox, and Moore. Smith has two goals for Boston, exactly half of their season total. Last year's series between these two teams was very even.
Storylines: Gold Pride will be going after the record for consecutive wins. However, they have been outscored by an aggregate 2-1 in their two roads games and one has to wonder if the long road trips they must endure will have an effect on them. Boston’s home field advantage that we saw in early 2009 appears to have disappeared with only 2 points to show for their last 4 home games.

The previews for the other WPS weekend games will appear later in the week.

WPS Midweek Notes - April 14

Head over Heals

It takes a lot of different skills to play soccer. Speed, agility, endurance, concentration, and sometimes, a little gymnastical skill. Kiki Bosio of FC Gold Pride demonstrated her cartwheeling ability using the flip throw several times in Sunday’s match against Saint Louis Athletica. While it is somewhat of a novelty to fans who don’t see it very often, it can also be an effective offensive weapon. Bosio was able to throw the ball deep into Athletica’s penalty area every time and although Gold Pride was unable to convert any of the throws into goals, it did present some dangerous opportunities.

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Player of the Week

Eniola Aluko of Saint Louis Athletica was named WPS Player of the Week for the weekend of April 10-11. Aluko scored two goals to lead Athletica to a 2-0 win over FC Gold Pride. Aluko had won Player of the Week honors once previously in 2009. Aluko scored a goal in each half of Sunday’s match. It was the first two goal game in her WPS career.

Rookies

Out of the 65 players taken in the January draft, 22 are now full-roster players in the WPS and another 16 made WPS teams as developmental players. Out of those, 17 players made their debut in the opening weekend of WPS. Ten of those players started and there was at least one of the rookies in the starting lineup for each team. FC Gold Pride had three starters from their draft selections back in January.

The 10 starters were Lauren Cheney (Boston), Nikki Marshall (Washington), Carolyn Blank (Saint Louis), Tobin Heath (Atlanta), Whitney Engen (Chicago), Estelle Johnson (Philadelphia), Brittany Taylor (Sky Blue FC), and Kelley O’Hara, Kaley Fountain, and Ali Riley (all FC Gold Pride). Not only did Gold Pride start three of their rookies, 5 of their draft selections saw action in Sunday’s match.

Lauren Cheney was the only 2010 draft choice to score a goal last weekend, but she will have the distinction of being the first player to score a 2010 regular season goal.

Long Waits

Ashley Phillips spent the entire 2009 season on the Boston Breakers roster as a developmental player. She did not play a minute for the entire season. Such is the life of a developmental keeper in WPS. After a year of waiting, Phillips finally got her chance on Saturday and earned the victory in goal for the Breakers in their 2-1 win over the Washington Freedom. Phillips was credited with 7 saves for the match.

Sarah Wagenfuhr started last year as a developmental player for Chicago, but was released after their second game, having not played. On Sunday, she started at outside back for Athletica and played 23 minutes before coming off with an injury.

Lauren Sesselman got into one game for one minute in 2009 for Sky Blue FC. She started and played the full 90 in Atlanta’s opener on Sunday. On the other side of the field Philadelphia’s Lyndsey Patterson had appeared in only one game for 12 minutes for the Los Angeles Sol in 2009. She started and played 57 minutes for the Independence.

Midweek Notes:

Atlanta - Ramona Bachmann did not make the trip to Philadelphia because of illness after scoring a goal and an assist in Atlanta’s final exhibition game in Tulsa…..Allison Whitworth picked up her 2nd career shutout in WPS. Her previous shutout against the Los Angeles Sol in 2009 also ended in a scoreless tie…..The number one overall pick in the 2010 draft, Tobin Heath, played 89 minutes in Sunday’s game.

Boston – Last season, Kelly Smith scored a goal in each of the first 4 games in which she appeared for the Breakers and she started 2010 out in the same fashion with a goal against the Freedom…..The Breakers became only the 2nd team in WPS history to start a developmental keeper in goal with Ashley Phillips on Saturday. Washington had started Kati Jo Spisak three times in 2009…..Lauren Cheney scored her first career WPS goal just 6 minutes into Saturday’s contest.

Chicago – Cristiane was credited with taking 9 shots in the Red Stars loss to Sky Blue, a total which easily leads the league…..In the continuation of a disturbing trend, Chicago has now been shut out 12 times in 21 matches over two seasons…..Kate Markgraf played the full 90 minutes after missing the 2009 season on maternity leave.

FC Gold Pride – Five of Gold Pride’s draft selections saw action on Sunday. Kelley O’Hara, Kaley Fountain, and Ali Riley started, while Becky Edwards and Kiki Bosio subbed in…..Kandace Wilson came off the bench, seeing her first regular season action since she was injured in a May 24th match against Los Angeles in 2009…..Four of Gold Pride’s 5 international players were not with the team in 2009. Camille Abily and Marta were with Los Angeles, Candace Chapman was with Boston, and Solveig Gulbrandsen did not play in WPS last season.

Philadelphia – Karina LeBlanc earned her 13th career shutout on Sunday against Atlanta…..Philadelphia had the largest attendance of the WPS opening weekend with 6,028…..Amy Rodriguez was credited with 6 shots for the Independence against Atlanta, more than in any of her appearances for the Breakers last season.

Saint Louis – Eniola Aluko became the 3rd Athletica player to score two goals in one game. The other two were Daniela and Christie Welsh…..Shannon Boxx became the first Athletica player to record two assists in one game…..Carolyn Blank was the lowest draft choice to start for a WPS team last weekend. Blank was Athletica’s 5th round selection, the 46th overall pick in the draft.

Sky Blue FC – Heather O’Reilly, who tied for SBFC’s lead in assists last season with 3, picked up her first assist on Sunday…..Karen Bardsley picked up the 2nd shutout of her career. Her first came against FC Gold Pride on August 5, 2009, when she was a last second replacement for an injured Jen Branam…..Sky Blue has now shutout the Chicago Red Stars all 5 times they have played them. They have a 4-0-1 record against the Red Stars with a 5-0 goal differential.

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Washington Freedom – Allie Long was the only non-national team player to score a goal this past weekend…..While Abby Wambach is primarily known for her goal scoring ability, she now has 6 career WPS assists, which ties her for 1st place in that category…..The Freedom have now given up multiple goals in 11 of their 22 matches in 2009-10 including the playoff game.

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Opening Week Trivia: Of the 6 returning WPS teams, only two started the same goalkeeper as they did in last year's opener. Name the goalkeepers and the teams. (Answer in the weekend preview later this week).

WPS Weekend Wrap Up

A number of universities are well represented in WPS, including UNC, Notre Dame, Portland, UCLA, Stanford, and Santa Clara. One university that has been developing a number of WPS players as of late is Florida State. Sunday's game between Saint Louis and FC Gold Pride included 3 ex-FSU stars and a former FSU assistant coach. Shown here (from left) India Trotter of Athletica, Assistant Coach Paul Rogers (Athletica's goalkeeper coach), Becky Edwards of FC Gold Pride, and Sarah Wagenfuhr of Athletica. All three players played in the match.

Athletica defender/midfielder Elaine wasn't able to play in Sunday's game because there was a delay in getting her international clearance. But that didn't stop the Brazilian National Team player from participating in another way. She joined Laclede's Army, a supporters group for Saint Louis Athletica, in their cheering section. She got into the spirit of the match by spray painting her hair green, sitting in with the group's drummers and doing her part in supporting her team from the stands. She is hoping to join her teammates on the field soon.

Boston 2, Washington 1-The Breakers got goals from Lauren Cheney and Kelly Smith to defeat the Freedom. Ashley Phillips got the victory in goal in her first WPS action. Allie Long scored the Freedom's loan goal.

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Saint Louis 2, FC Gold Pride 0-Eniola Aluko scored both goals as the Athletica won their home opener. Shannon Boxx had an excellent match, assisting on both goals. The Marta-led Gold Pride were unable to get their offense untracked. Hope Solo earned the shutout in goal.

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Sky Blue FC 1, Chicago 0-The defending champions won their home opener. Natasha Kai scored early on an assist from Heather O'Reilly and SBFC was able to hold on for the win. Karen Bardsley earned the shutout in goal. Jill Loyden gave up just the one goal in her first start for the Red Stars.

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Philadelphia 0, Atlanta 0-The Independence drew over 6000 fans for their home opener which ended in a scoreless tie. Karina LeBlanc (Philadelphia) and Allison Whitworth (Atlanta) earned shutouts. Several key players were missing from the match including Allison Falk (red card in '09 championship game) and Heather Mitts (injury) for Philly and Ramona Bachmann (illness) and Monica Ocampo (illness) for Atlanta.

Cheney Notches First Goal in Breakers' 2-1 Victory

The Boston Breakers defeated the Washington Freedom by a 2-1 margin in the WPS season opener. And for Lauren Cheney, it's been quite a 6 month run. First, she helps lead UCLA into the NCAA semifinals, then she joins the USWNT and scores 5 goals in the first 3 months of the year. Now, she can add a WPS goal to her resume. It took just 6 minutes for Cheney to earn her first WPS goal as she gave the Boston Breakers an early 1-0 lead.

Kelly Smith doubled the lead with a goal at the 20 minute mark. Boston took a 2-0 lead into halftime. Allie Long of the Freedom made it close, scoring in the 87th minute, but Washington was unable to come up with an equalizer and Boston took the opening game 2-1. Developmental keeper, Ashley Phillips, saw her first action in goal for the Breakers and earned the victory.

Two cautions were handed out in the match, one to Fabiana just before the break and one in the 2nd half to Sonia Bompastor.