Sky Blue Rolls into First Place
Casey Nogueira scored twice and Lara Dickenmann contributed assists on all three goals as Jersey Sky Blue rolled past the Washington Freedom 3-0 at the Maryland SoccerPlex in a battle for supremacy in the W-League’s Northeast Division. With the victory Sky Blue moved into first place in the Northeast while handing the Freedom its first loss of the season.
The victory improved Sky Blue’s season mark to 7-1 with all seven victories coming by shutout. Sky Blue keeper Jillian Loyden had her busiest game of the season coming up with seven saves to claim the clean sheet. Tobin Heath scored the other goal of the game before leaving the game with an ankle injury midway through the first half. The Freedom fell to 6-1-1 with the loss.
Sky Blue took control of the game early with quick strikes by Heath and Nogueira in the first 12 minutes of the game. Heath stunned the home crowd when she gave Sky Blue the 1-0 lead just five minutes into the game. A nice combination with Dickenmann led Heath into the box on the left and she blasted a left-footed shot inside the right post to open the scoring.
Nogueira made it 2-0 in the 12th minute with a nice blast of her own. Dickenmann sent the University of North Carolina standout behind the defense and she controlled the ball before cracking a perfectly-placed right-footed shot inside the left post.
Loyden made three key saves in the first half to keep the Freedom of the board. With the score still 1-0 in the 11th minute, the Sky Blue keeper dove to her left to parry away a shot from close range. In the 14th minute, Loyden tipped over a blast from Tara Kidwell and in the 44th minute, Ali Andrzejewski fired right at Loyden as the Freedom couldn’t break through.
Sky Blue came out for the second half with a more defensive approach and it worked out in the end as the Freedom attacked often but couldn’t break through. After a nice stop by Freedom keeper Kati Jo Spisak on Nogueira in the 56th minute, the Freedom really turned it on with two great chances off Lori Lindsay free kicks three minutes apart.
In the 64th minute, Sarah Huffman flicked Lindsay’s free kick over Loyden but it spun off the top of the bar and over. Three minutes later, Freedom halftime substitute Christie Welsh volleyed Lindsay’s serve square off the crossbar and out.
Sky Blue counterattacked a number of times with Lara Dickenmann coming up with a number of great chances and with Spisak stopping the Swiss striker on chances in the 81st and 86th minutes.
|
June 27, 2007 - Maryland SoccerPlex |
1 |
2 |
- |
F |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jersey Sky Blue (7-1) | 2 | 1 | - | 3 |
| Washington Freedom (6-1-1) | 0 | 0 | - | 0 |
LINEUPS
JERSEY SKY BLUE: Jillian Loyden, Kim Brandão, Bonnie Young, Fanta Cooper, Steph Logterman, Nikki Krzysik, Erla Arnardóttir (Gina DeMaio 45), Becky Edwards, Tobin Heath (Sarra Moller 25, Susanna Lehtinen 70), Lara Dickenmann, Casey Nogueira.
WASHINGTON FREEDOM: Kati Jo Spisak, Sarah Senty (Jill Porto 65), Emily Janss, Casey Zimny, Ali Krieger, Lori Lindsay, Kele Golobiowski (Mallory Mahar 83), Tara Kidwell (Kelly Hammond 65), Sarah Huffman, Ali Andrzejewski (Christie Welsh 45), Rebecca Moros (Katie Watson 77).
GOALS
JSB: Heath (Dickenmann) 5th minute
JSB: Nogueira (Dickenmann) 12th minute
JSB: Nogueira (Dickenmann) 90th minute
STATISTICS
SHOTS
JSB: 6; WF: 7
SAVES
JSB: Loyden 7; WF: Spisak 3
FOULS
JSB: 14; WF: 3
OFFSIDES
JSB: 0; WF: 2
CORNERS
JSB: 1; WF: 8
GAME NOTES
CAUTIONS/EJECTIONS
WF: Spisak (Caution) 53rd minute
REFEREE
Dan Lukash
ASSISTANTS
Jason Balint, Dean Fairweather
ATTENDANCE
n/a