Smith And Lilly Lead Breakers To Win In Home opener

By Allen Ramsey

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts --- The Boston Breakers and St Luis Athletica had a frigid, rainy night to deal with as the Breakers hosted their home opener at Harvard Stadium. A home crowd of close to 5,000 thousand fans still turned up and would not leave disappointed.

First Half

The slick field played its part in the opening frame as neither team could gain much possession in the opening 15 minutes. The visitor’s straight forward attack looked to be making some headway, but each time a ball was played over the top is skipped teasingly away from forwards Eniola Aluko and Karri Hanks.

The Breakers slowly found a bit of rhythm through the middle of the park and after the opening 15 minutes the match was clearly swinging in favor of the home team when Amy Rodriguez set up the first real chance of the game for either side. Cutting in from the right, Rodriguez touched around a defender and slotted a nice ball across the frame of goal only to see it cleared out of danger.

Boston continued to press and in the 25^th found Heather Mitts streaking down the left flank from a quick restart. The American international whipped in a dangerous cross but Athletica ‘keeper Hope Solo made an athletic dive to tip the ball away from Rodriguez at the back post.

The best chance of the half for either side came in the 32^nd when Boston’s Kelly Schmedes executed a nice turn to beat a defender and slid a ball back to a the wide open Kristine Lilly. Lilly collected the ball well just inside the box, but sent her left footed effort high and over the goal.

After having little success going forward through most of the half St. Louis almost got off the mark just before the break when Aluko made a great run down the left channel and slid nice ball back to Hanks in front of goal, but the Breaker defense was up to the task and blocked not only Hanks’ effort, but the rebound as well.

Second Half

Both squads came out of the break flying. The visitors created two good chances early with Tina Ellertson and Hanks both getting decent looks at the Breakers’ goal, but it would be the home side who found the breakthrough just eight minutes after the restart.

Rodriguez made a nice run up the middle of the park and slipped a ball through to Schemedes whop was tightly marked on the left of the six yard box. The pressure from Schemedes forced and error at the back and the ball popped into the path of Kelly Smith who was alone with an open net and made no mistake in giving the Breakers their first goal in front of the home fans.

Smith almost made it two in the 61^st when her shot forced Solo into a fantastic save, but the keeper did fantastically well and pushed the ball out for a corner.

The visitors tried to respond and for the next 20 minutes controlled large spells of possession. But the Breaker back line was on hand on each occasion to and despite a few forays into the Breakers' box St. Louis rarely tested Boston ‘keeper Kristin Luckenbill.

Boston would put the game away in the 87^th. Smith was involved again as her brilliant heel flick from left Lilly in perfect position and the veteran midfielder made no mistake in her finish.  

A final push from St. Louis proved to be fruitless and the home side collected their first win of the season, a 2-0 victory over St. Louis Athletica.

Allen Ramsey is an Assistant Editor of Goal.com.