Sky Blue Battle Magic to 1-1 Draw on the Road
Amélie Mercier scored the game-tying goal but Jersey Sky Blue couldn’t come up with the game-winner settling for a 1-1 tie with the New York Magic in a W-League Northeast Division contest at Iona College.
Sky Blue held a 15-5 advantage in shots. The tie puts Sky Blue in jeopardy of missing the playoffs after qualifying for the postseason in the franchise’s debut season. Sky Blue now stands at 6-3-2 while the Magic move to 1-5-4.
Sky Blue controlled the run of play for most of the game particularly in the early going. Leah Robinson came close on two occasions early in the first half sending a shot off the outside of the right post off a feed from Mercier in the ninth minute before heading wide right from a Michele O’Brien cross three minutes later.
In the 18th minute, Sky Blue defender Jaime Komar carried the ball forward before firing a long shot that Magic keeper Alicia Defino snared out of the upper right corner.
The Magic opened the scoring in the 21st minute on a quick counterattack against the run of play. Mikaela Howell sent a long ball behind the Sky Blue defense and Gemma Davison was first to the ball just outside the box. As Sky Blue keeper Jillian Loyden came off her line, Davison slid a shot that snuck inside the left post for the 1-0 lead.
Sky Blue responded immediately as Mercier tied the game just 2:39 later. Kim Bonilla headed the ball forward into the box and as Defino came out, O’Brien touched the ball past her. Mercier ran onto the loose ball and buried it from close range to tie the game at 1-1.
Just a minute later, Bonilla nearly duplicated the feat but her effort from 20 yards barely went wide of the right post.
In the second half, Domenique Esposito missed a golden opportunity to give Sky Blue the lead. Sky Blue earned a free kick in the 61st minute on the right and Gina DeMaio sent in a hard cross that went through everyone and found Esposito at the far post. Esposito chested the ball down but with an open net beckoning she rolled her shot from an angle past the far post and out.
The last chances for either team came in a two-minute flurry starting in the 80th minute when O’Brien cut a cross back from the right endline for Esposito, whose shot from 12 yards was grabbed by Defino. Moments later Esposito took the ball up the right side and sent a cross in for Taylor Walsh, who controlled the ball and spun to her right before missing the goal with a left-footed shot from right in front
The Magic nearly claimed the win for themselves in the 82nd minute when Robin McCullough fired a curling shot from the top of the box that bounding off the top of the right post.
Sky Blue returns to action with a home match on Wednesday night. Jersey will host the Long Island Rough Riders at 7:30 p.m. at Drew University’s Ranger Stadium in Madison, NJ.
|
July 6, 2008 - Iona College |
1 |
2 |
- |
F |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jersey Sky Blue (6-3-2) | 1 | 0 | - | 1 |
| New York Magic (1-5-4) | 1 | 0 | - | 1 |
LINEUPS
JERSEY SKY BLUE: Jillian Loyden, Kim Brandão, Sarra Moller, Stephanie Peel, Jaime Komar (Ashlyn Brantley 71), Marisa Brown (Gina DeMaio 45), Leah Robinson, Kim Bonilla (Domenique Esposito 45), Amélie Mercier (Taylor Walsh 45), Tricia DiPaolo, Michele O’Brien.
NEW YORK MAGIC: Alicia Defino, Allison Fries, Eleri Earnshaw, Diane Hare, Marta Anderson-Winchell, Kanae Haneishi, Robin McCullough, Noelle Meeke (Tonya Hipsman 59, Maria Romano 69), Mikaela Howell, Stephanie Lovely (Donna-Kay Henry 40, Alexandra Bucklin 83), Gemma Davison.
GOALS
NYM: Davison (Howell) 21st minute
JSB: Mercier (O’Brien) 24th minute
STATISTICS
SHOTS
JSB: 15; NYM: 5
SAVES
JSB: Loyden 1; NYM: Defino 5
FOULS
JSB: 14; NYM: 7
OFFSIDES
JSB: 1; NYM: 2
CORNERS
JSB: 2; NYM: 0
GAME INFO
CAUTIONS/EJECTIONS
none
REFEREE
Lahoucine Kharmaj
ASSISTANTS
Hakan Baydere
Carlos Garcia
ATTENDANCE
n/a