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Played
September 1, 2010 8:00 PM EDT
Toyota Park, Bridgeview, IL
September 1, 2010 8:00 PM EDT
Toyota Park, Bridgeview, IL
Chicago Red Stars 2-0 Philadelphia Independence
Red Stars play spoiler, dropping Philadelphia on Wednesday night, sending them into third place in the process.
By Grace Weitz
BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. -- Despite a playoff berth on the line, the Philadelphia Independence could not find the back of the net, dropping their third straight game to the Chicago Red Stars at Toyota Park in Bridgeview, Ill., on Wednesday night.
After having three matches to seal a spot in the playoffs, the Independence left their fate to the feet of Sky Blue FC. Tying their game, 1-1, earlier in the evening, Sky Blue helped the Independence advance. The tie guarantees the Independence's season will continue into the postseason, but it was not the way that Philadelphia coach Paul Riley wanted to finish the year.
"There's nothing worse than losing three and actually making the playoffs. We looked like an expansion team tonight," said Riley. "Chicago were very good. Hats off to them. I thought they showed up tonight."
While the Red Stars were officially eliminated from playoff competition last Saturday, they did not look like a team whose season was already over, flying out of the gates and striking on Philadelphia early in the game.
Less than four minutes into the match Red Stars' forward Casey Nogueira slotted a free kick from the top right of the 18-yard box towards the goal. The ball appeared to be traveling straight for Philadelphia goalkeeper Val Henderson, but was knocked off course and into the net by Red Stars forward Veronica Boquete for the first strike of the game.
With the 1-0 lead Boquete seemed to have put the Red Stars seemed in a good place since the team has gone 6-0-0 when scoring first in WPS play.
Coming to the Red Stars from the W-League Buffalo Flash, Boquete was electric in her first start for Chicago, recording one goal and three total shots on the night. The Spanish native, whose play with the Red Stars was delayed due to visa issues, provided a much needed boost to the Chicago Red Stars offense.
"It was tough knowing that I could contribute and yet because of some visa issues couldn't get on the field and help the team into the playoffs," said Boquete (through a translator). "But I'm very happy about what I did tonight, contributing with a goal."
Chicago's scoring didn't end with Boquete's boot; the team would tack on one more tally in the 53rd minute to put the game away for good. After a pass from Karen Carney, Red Stars defender Marian Dalmy snapped a rocket from the right side of the field. The shot flew from about 30 yards out, over the head of Henderson and into the net, putting Chicago up 2-0.
With the win Chicago snaps their three game losing streak and records their first win against the Independence on the year.
Despite the solid victory Red Stars coach Omid Namazi thought that the Red Stars could have played even better.
"The result was a great win." said Namazi. "But I don't think we played that well. We had decent spurts of good play, [but] we could have scored a lot more, [and] overall the possession wasn't as good as some of our other games."
However, the two goal effort is the most goals the Red Stars have scored on the Independence all year and coach Namazi did feel that the staunch Red Stars defense held well against the Independence's pressure.
Despite recording 12 shots, Philadelphia was shutout for the second time in their last three matches as. Their best chance of the game didn't come until the 65th minute. Independence midfielder Caroline Seger slotted a low ball from the right side of the field towards the six-yard box. Loyden attacked the ball and barely swept the cross away with an outstretched hand. Philadelphia was there to clean up the rebound and appeared ready to ping one in, but forward Amy Rodriguez drew an offsides call, negating the dangerous opportunity.
"We're struggling. We had no width and we had no rhythm." said Riley. "We made some changes to freshen up the lineup and it didn't work. There's a lot of players out of form and tired."
Although the Independence will be moving on to the playoffs, Riley says that the expansion team has a lot to work on.
"Being an expansion team there were no expectations, but now of course there are expectations with 34 points and because we've been in second place [so long]," said Riley. "We need to sort the midfield out, we need to get a bit more width, and we need to get rhythm because if we can't find rhythm we can't find A-Rod (Amy Rodriguez) in good areas and tonight it was too hard for her to get into good areas."
The Chicago back line shut down the normally noisy foot of the Independence forward. Rodriguez, who ranks second in WPS with 12 goals and fourth in the league with six assists, was limited to just three shots--none of which were on frame.
Rodriguez and the Independence will, however, have one more chance before the playoffs to end their season in good form. They take on FC Gold Pride in their final regular season game on Sept. 11 at 8:30 p.m. ET. The Pride have already clinched a playoff spot and home field advantage in the WPS Championship.
The Red Stars will finish their season at home against the Washington Freedom on Sunday at 6 p.m. ET.
For more on Women's Professional Soccer, visit Goal.com's WPS page and join Goal.com USA's Facebook fan page!
After having three matches to seal a spot in the playoffs, the Independence left their fate to the feet of Sky Blue FC. Tying their game, 1-1, earlier in the evening, Sky Blue helped the Independence advance. The tie guarantees the Independence's season will continue into the postseason, but it was not the way that Philadelphia coach Paul Riley wanted to finish the year.
"There's nothing worse than losing three and actually making the playoffs. We looked like an expansion team tonight," said Riley. "Chicago were very good. Hats off to them. I thought they showed up tonight."
While the Red Stars were officially eliminated from playoff competition last Saturday, they did not look like a team whose season was already over, flying out of the gates and striking on Philadelphia early in the game.
Less than four minutes into the match Red Stars' forward Casey Nogueira slotted a free kick from the top right of the 18-yard box towards the goal. The ball appeared to be traveling straight for Philadelphia goalkeeper Val Henderson, but was knocked off course and into the net by Red Stars forward Veronica Boquete for the first strike of the game.
With the 1-0 lead Boquete seemed to have put the Red Stars seemed in a good place since the team has gone 6-0-0 when scoring first in WPS play.
Coming to the Red Stars from the W-League Buffalo Flash, Boquete was electric in her first start for Chicago, recording one goal and three total shots on the night. The Spanish native, whose play with the Red Stars was delayed due to visa issues, provided a much needed boost to the Chicago Red Stars offense.
"It was tough knowing that I could contribute and yet because of some visa issues couldn't get on the field and help the team into the playoffs," said Boquete (through a translator). "But I'm very happy about what I did tonight, contributing with a goal."
Chicago's scoring didn't end with Boquete's boot; the team would tack on one more tally in the 53rd minute to put the game away for good. After a pass from Karen Carney, Red Stars defender Marian Dalmy snapped a rocket from the right side of the field. The shot flew from about 30 yards out, over the head of Henderson and into the net, putting Chicago up 2-0.
With the win Chicago snaps their three game losing streak and records their first win against the Independence on the year.
Despite the solid victory Red Stars coach Omid Namazi thought that the Red Stars could have played even better.
"The result was a great win." said Namazi. "But I don't think we played that well. We had decent spurts of good play, [but] we could have scored a lot more, [and] overall the possession wasn't as good as some of our other games."
However, the two goal effort is the most goals the Red Stars have scored on the Independence all year and coach Namazi did feel that the staunch Red Stars defense held well against the Independence's pressure.
Despite recording 12 shots, Philadelphia was shutout for the second time in their last three matches as. Their best chance of the game didn't come until the 65th minute. Independence midfielder Caroline Seger slotted a low ball from the right side of the field towards the six-yard box. Loyden attacked the ball and barely swept the cross away with an outstretched hand. Philadelphia was there to clean up the rebound and appeared ready to ping one in, but forward Amy Rodriguez drew an offsides call, negating the dangerous opportunity.
"We're struggling. We had no width and we had no rhythm." said Riley. "We made some changes to freshen up the lineup and it didn't work. There's a lot of players out of form and tired."
Although the Independence will be moving on to the playoffs, Riley says that the expansion team has a lot to work on.
"Being an expansion team there were no expectations, but now of course there are expectations with 34 points and because we've been in second place [so long]," said Riley. "We need to sort the midfield out, we need to get a bit more width, and we need to get rhythm because if we can't find rhythm we can't find A-Rod (Amy Rodriguez) in good areas and tonight it was too hard for her to get into good areas."
The Chicago back line shut down the normally noisy foot of the Independence forward. Rodriguez, who ranks second in WPS with 12 goals and fourth in the league with six assists, was limited to just three shots--none of which were on frame.
Rodriguez and the Independence will, however, have one more chance before the playoffs to end their season in good form. They take on FC Gold Pride in their final regular season game on Sept. 11 at 8:30 p.m. ET. The Pride have already clinched a playoff spot and home field advantage in the WPS Championship.
The Red Stars will finish their season at home against the Washington Freedom on Sunday at 6 p.m. ET.
For more on Women's Professional Soccer, visit Goal.com's WPS page and join Goal.com USA's Facebook fan page!
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