Beat survive late surge from Breakers, win 3-2
by WPS - Staff Report
08/21/2010 - 04:02 p.m.
Eniola Aluko scored two goals in Atlanta's 3-2 victory over the Boston Breakers.
View the boxscore >> (all statistics contained in this boxscore are unofficial)
NEW BRITAIN, CT (August 21, 2010) - The Atlanta Beat (5-10-5, 20 points) traveled to New Britain, Connecticut on Saturday and came away with three points in a 3-2 win over the Boston Breakers (8-7-5, 29 points).
The Beat quickly set the pace of the game and were on the attack knowing they needed a win to stay alive in the WPS playoff race. In the 11th minute of action Lori Chalupny went down the left side and faked out defender Kasey Moore and fired the ball in to the net to take the early 1-0 lead.
Beat keeper Hope Solo made several key saves to keep Boston off of the scoreboard in the first half while her team kept the pressure on the Breaker defense. Solo made a jumping save just prior to half off of a Lauren Cheney shot to preserve the 1-0 lead at the half.
Both sides had early chances in the second half but were unable to come away with a goal. In the 66th minute Mami Yamaguchi's shot deflected off of a Boston defender and team leader Eniola Aluko was there to put the finishing touch on the goal and extended the lead to 2-0.
Six minutes later Aluko tacked on another goal to her stats as she put the ball past Alyssa Neaher for a 3-0 lead. Despite being up 3-0, Atlanta knew they still had work to do as they surrendered a 2-0 lead earlier in the week to the Independence.
It wasn't until the 87' minute when Boston finally got a ball past Hope Solo. Laura del Rio sent a shot that went off the cross bar, but Lindsay Tarpley was there to put the ball in the back of net. The goal marked the second straight game Tarpley has scored a goal.
Breaker Head Coach Tony DiCicco said, "Once they got a goal, it gave them a lot of confidence. But, we never gave up."
Boston would not stop there. In stoppage time Kristine Lilly grabbed her second goal of the season when she got the rebound off of a Solo deflection. However, it would not be enough as the final whistle blew shortly after the goal.
"I think it was a classic performance. We knew what we needed to do today. We have a new coach that has very high expectations for us and we came out here and did what we had to do," said Beat forward Eniola Aluko, "it was disappointing to give up the last two goals, but we came out with a win."
Atlanta's next match will be at KSU Soccer Stadium in Kennesaw, GA against the first-place FC Gold Pride at 7pm ET on August 28.
Boston will travel to West Chester, PA for Fox Soccer Channel's game of the week against the Philadelphia Independence. The match will emanate from John A. Farrell Stadium at 6pm ET on Sunday August 29, live on FSC.
View the boxscore >> (all statistics contained in this boxscore are unofficial)