WPS Weekend Recap

Chicago Red Stars 1 - Washington Freedom 1
The Washington Freedom, coming off a bye week, scored its first goal in WPS history during its home opener. In the first half, Chicago forward Lindsay Tarpley, with pure heart and hustle, scored her 2nd goal in league play -- after just 2 games. (Not to detract from Tarpley's goal, but I do think Freedom keeper Briana Scurry should have made the save. I think it might be time for Gabarra to put in KJ Spisak and see what happens.) Washington's goal came early in the 2nd half off a dangerous set piece served in the box by Sonia Bompastor. Teammate Becky Sauerbrunn was able to get a head on it and put it past Chicago keeper Caroline Jonsson. Amazing stat -- Washington outshot the Red Stars 26-8! I think that says something about Jonsson's play yesterday, no?! Watch the video highlights of the goals.

Of note: Red Stars player, Frida Ostberg was the first player in WPS history to receive a red card.

Sky Blue FC 1 - FC Gold Pride 1
With last night's tie Sky Blue FC’s record is now 0-1-1 while FC Gold Pride stands at 1-0-1. Though Sky Blue had over 6,000 fans at last week's home opener, only 2,735 came out last night. Luckily for those fans who did come out, they got to see a great game of soccer! Both teams came out strong with SBFC dominating possession, though not necessarily converting possession to opportunity. It was actually FC Gold Pride's Carrie Dew that scored first, off a corner kick from Tiffany Weimer. (I actually missed this goal because I was updating Twitter. That's one mistake I won't make again!) With only 15 minutes left in the game, I thought for sure SBFC was going to start the season with an 0-2 record, but sure enough, Heather O'Reilly came to the rescue and scored the equalizer off a pass from Sarah Walsh. With O'Reilly's former youth club, East Brunswick Soccer, in the house she certainly was last night's hometown hero.

Of note: US Women's National Team coach, Pia Sundhage, was also in the stands (a few rows behind me) scouting and cheering on her players from both teams.

Boston Breakers 2 - St. Louis Athletica 0
What is going on with Athletica? I haven't been able to watch any of their games yet, but for the life of me I can't understand why they can't put one in the net. They seem to have ample opportunities, but miss every single time.

Last night, Athletica faced the Boston Breakers at Boston's home opener in front of a crowd of approximately 4,800 people. The first half seemed to start off slow with both teams getting stuck in the midfield. However, the Breakers seemed to come alive in the 2nd half. Breakers stars Kelly Smith and Kristine Lily got a goal a piece (Smith even assisted on Lil's goal) to shut out Hope Solo and her teammates. Solo rarely gives up 3 goals in a year with the US WNT so why has she given up 3 in the last 2 games? So not only do they have a problem with their offense, they have a problem with their defense, too? Yikes!

Let's hope Athletica can turn it around, because I have them in the final four!!