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The Boston Breakers' Christine Latham netted the game-winner in the 37th minute to help her team defeat the Washington Freedom, 1-0.

Boxscore (all statistics contained in this boxscore are unofficial)

Cambridge, Mass. (June 24, 2009) – Christine Latham scored a header off of Heather Mitts’ free kick in the 37th minute to give the Boston Breakers a 1-0 win over the Washington Freedom in Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS) action Wednesday night at Harvard Stadium in Cambridge, Mass.

The win allows the Breakers (5-4-3, 18 points) to leap over the Freedom (4-4-4, 16 points) into sole possession of second place. It also gave Boston the overall series win for the season against Washington (currently 2-0-1) with one match between the two remaining on July 29. The Freedom drop to third place.

Breakers head coach Tony DiCicco was pleased with the result, and especially impressed with his teams first half performance. "I thought the first half was probably our best soccer from both an offensive and defensive standpoint. Washington is a good team and we just didn’t let them play in the first half,” he said. “It’s hard because you want to be a little more cautious when you are leading, and they came out hard in the second half. They had some opportunities, and good teams are going to get opportunities."

Mitts’ free kick came in the first half from a foul on Kelly Smith in the 37th minute. Mitts stepped in and crossed the ball to Latham on the right side of the goal, who then headed it into the opposite left corner, putting the Breakers up, 1-0. It was the second goal of the season for Latham, both of which were game-winners against the Freedom. The assist was Mitts’ first.

Washington had a chance to tie before halftime in the 44th minute when Lori Lindsey hit a shot from outside the box just wide to the left side of the goal.

Leading up to the goal, both Boston’s Amy Rodriguez and Kelly Smith were knocking on the door with several close calls. Rodriguez put pressure on early, in the 16th minute, when she shot a ball at the top of the net, but McLeod just tipped it over the cross bar. She then sent a cross across the net minutes later, but again McLeod made the save.

Smith rocketed two shots; both from about 30 yards out, one over and the other wide. She also took a free kick after being fouled, which bounced off the cross bar just prior to Latham’s tally.

Washington Freedom head coach Jim Gabarra wasn't impressed. “We played very poorly in the first half and gave Boston too many chances."

In the second half, Smith finally hit the back of the net in the 55th minute, when she shot a ball past McLeod to the lower left corner, but the goal was called back for offsides.

Amy Rodriguez, looking to catch another goal after scoring the game winner on Sunday over Chicago, had luck similar to Smith’s, sending several shots just past the goal.

Washington became dangerously close of equalizing the match several times in the second half, outshooting Boston, 6-4, but goalkeeper Ali Lipsher held the win until the final whistle with five saves. It was her second straight shutout in only her third start of the year.

Except for the Sol things are just getting tighter and tighter in the playoff race ,” said Gabarra. “This is a tough stretch for us. We had a good result in St. Louis and were looking to do the same tonight. Now we just need to get some rest, get some work in and get ready to go to Chicago next week and then host Los Angeles.”

The Freedom are back in action next Wednesday, July 1 when they travel to Chicago to take on the Red Stars for an 8:30 p.m. start. The Breakers next game is July 4 against Sky Blue FC in Piscataway, N.J. Sky Blue leads the series 1-0, having defeated Boston 2-1 on May 30.

Boxscore (all statistics contained in this boxscore are unofficial)

POST-GAME QUOTES

Washington Freedom

Head Coach Jim Gabarra:

On moving Sonia Bompastor to the back after playing well in midfield:
“We had to address our defensive structure in giving up so many goals. When we first brought Sonia here it was as a left back, and I think our wide defenders were not possessing the ball well enough for us. This allowed us to have two more experienced defenders in the flank defensive position, players who can get forward and are good on the ball. I think I was a little disappointed that she didn’t get forward as much tonight, especially in the last 10-15 minutes of the game. We needed her to get higher.

I think we could get the ball, we couldn’t string a pass together. Our first touch was disappointing; we couldn’t play the ball to feet. Part of it might be the surface; we came from Saint Louis where the grass was long and played slow. And we came here on turf, and the field was wet so it is even quicker. We played too slow, we couldn’t possess the ball. Against a team like Boston, as soon as you win the ball, everyone is spreading out, and you give it to the other team, it’s going to create some dangerous situations.

On Sawa being in more of an offensive role:
“We moved her to an attacking midfield role, and I think she got a few more chances. She is so good at timing her runs and knowing when to get forward that she can do it in a defensive midfield role too.

Abby Wambach:
On her injured left hamstring:
“I feel good. Obviously I would feel a lot better if we came away with a win. I strained my hamstring on Saturday so we were definitely nursing it a bit. Unfortunately I think that me not starting puts us on our heels and puts us in a defensive mindset, and it’s hard to break that once the game gets going. But credit Boston for taking advantage of a couple of mistakes that we made and punishing us for those.

Boston is a great team and they got a lot of different threats and it is hard to defend them for 90 minutes with all their players on the field. Kelly Smith, Kristine Lilly and Alex Scott, they have so many weapons that I wouldn’t be surprised if they scored every game the rest of the year.

On last game being physical, leading to suspensions, and any carryover to tonight’s game:
“No, I think that those are all league-mandated suspensions. The game refs itself, and when the game starts and finishes, you go back to your own club and don’t worry about what everyone else has done. The 90 minutes that we played is in the past. I didn’t think about it once today, and I am sure the rest of my team feels the same way.

On when she’ll be back to 100% health:
I think that I will be 100-percent in two days. Just the timing of the strain was so close to this game that we didn’t want to make this a three-week long injury. I probably could have played the full 90 minutes today. But to keep me 100-percent healthy for the rest of the season is more important than one half of soccer.

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Boston Breakers

Boston Head Coach Tony DiCicco:
“I thought it was a stronger performance and I am really proud of our team," said Boston Breakers head coach Tony DiCicco. "We’ve strung some good performances here, and I know the team is happy about tonight."

"We played two players (Sophia Mundy and Mary-Frances Monroe) who had not played one minute yet, and that is a sign of our depth. Later in July we will be missing seven players to national teams, all starters. So these players are going to have to step up and get us some results. I need to get them in now, but I am putting them in now because they earned it."

"I thought the first half was probably our best soccer from both an offensive and defensive standpoint. Washington is a good team and we just didn’t let them play in the first half. It’s hard because you want to be a little more cautious when you are leading, and they came out hard in the second half. They had some opportunities, and good teams are going to get opportunities."

On Abby Wambach coming in:
“We knew she was coming in, I expected her to start the second half so we were prepared. I thought they would move Bompastor into midfield. We put Kristine Lilly on here and she did a good job not letting her come in. She still got some dangerous service in, but we didn’t let her get in. I thought that was probably Lilly’s best defensive game in a long time; she really put in a lot of effort defensively.”

On playing wide:
“We have a lot of players who can play out wide, with (Heather) Mitts and (Alex) Scott going forward and Kristine (Lilly). We like to change the point, free up some of our wide personalities with a little bit of space, maybe one versus one, and maybe they can do some damage there.”

On play of goalkeeper Ali Lipsher:
“Ali is doing well. She had a couple of moments today where it wasn’t decisive goalkeeping, but the job of a goalkeeper is to keep the ball out of the back of the net. She seized her opportunity and now she has two shutouts in a row. I think the team has condifence in her. Kristin Luckenbill is still working hard and she is still a good goalkeeper, so that just makes that position more secure.

Right now Ali is the starter, and Kristin understands that. It wasn’t anything Kristin did wrong, I had to replace a few positions just to shake it up a little bit. And Ali seized the moment and has played three pretty good games. I thought her game on Sunday was fantastic.

Alli Lipsher
On today’s win:
“I think today we got pretty lucky. I think I was actually a bit shaky tonight and we were lucky to come out with a clean sheet playing against such a strong team.”

On the weather:
“It was pretty wet and slick today, so it was important to get your body behind the ball.”

On being proactive on the field:
“You always have to try to be proactive. Everyone does on the field. When they have such a strong presence with Abby you have to get an early read on balls that are being sent to you. You always want to anticipate the shot, but when you have a presence like that in the box, you sort of lean towards headlining the ball across the turf.”

Christine Latham
On tonight’s goal...and good feedback out there:
“It was exceptional. We’ve been working on bending apart the back post and one of the problems we’ve had lately is people not continuing with their set runs, so that was emphasized in the pregame meeting...I happened to have that back post run, so I stuck with it all the way through and the ball was right there. It was easy. I had really great service from Heather, so it was an easy tap in. It probably didn’t look easy, but it was.”

On Erin McLeod:
“She’s a good goalie and she’s done well. Ever since she’s come in for them they’ve had some shutouts and moved up the rankings. She’s a solid goalie for them and you’re not going to get too many easy chances or opportunities to score on her. We expected that. We tried to go in there and take as many chances and opportunities as we can. You saw we took a lot of shots, a lot of opportunities. They will go in one of these days.”

On playing a new position tonight:
“I’ve been working a little bit in there. It’s new to me. I’ve never played it before, nor in a game, but I like being able to see the field in front of you. It’s easier to read the game. Most of the time I’m back to goal, so I like that aspect of seeing the play build up. I’m still working on that aspect, there’s a lot of errors, but I am trying to work on my positioning. It’s a different skill level, requires a lot of finesse, so I am working on those two things.”

Heather Mitts
On tonight’s game:
“It’s very satisfying, especially considering the fact that in the first couple of games before this stretch we were not playing our best soccer. We were having a hard time finding the back of the net. I think that we came together and had some good results.”

On catching their breath after this stretch:
“We’re all going to rest our legs and come back. Then, it’s crunch time and we’re really looking to make the playoffs.”

On Latham’s goal:
“Something that I’ve been working on all season long is bending in there and trying to look for the back post. Lucky for me I whipped it in there and Latham got it.”

On being flattered by media attention:
“It depends. Obviously my interview yesterday with WEEI was one of those times where it was unfortunate. For the most part I am very flattered. I’m in soccer to help make the game grow and that’s why I went on the interview. Those guys were tough, but it’s all about the game and I try to do everything possible in a positive way to try to help the game.”

Sofia Mundy
On being in the league:
“It feels great. I have worked hard and it feels like I have earned and accomplished something...I’m really happy to contribute to the team and hope to continue contributing.”

On being more comfortable as the game went on:
“Yes, with anyone’s first WPS game there is a little nervousness. I tried to relax and talk to a lot of the girls about what I need to do offensively.”