Marta, hugging teammate Christine Sinclair, scored her league-leading 18th goal of the season in FC Gold Pride's 2-0 victory over the Boston Breakers.

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HAYWARD (Sept. 5, 2010) – A pair of goals just after halftime gave first-place FC Gold Pride (15-3-5, 50 points) a 2-0 win over the second-place Boston Breakers (10-8-5, 35 points) Sunday evening at Pioneer Stadium in Hayward, Calif.  With the victory, FC Gold Pride extended its unbeaten streak to a WPS record 12 games, breaking the 2009 Los Angeles Sol’s unbeaten mark of 11 matches.

Both teams were playing their third game in as many cities in a week and the travel took its toll in the early going as both teams started slowly.  By the midway point of the first half, both sides began to produce chances in the attacking end including some dangerous goalscoring opportunities.

Boston’s best came in the 27th minute as rookie forward Lauren Cheney posted up along the right edge of the six-yard box and was able to spin towards the endline.  Her shot from a tight angle was slapped away by FC Gold Pride goalkeeper Nicole Barnhart.

FC Gold Pride nearly scored in the last minute of the first half when Tiffeny Milbrett sent a free kick into the penalty area where Christine Sinclair rose and headed a shot on goal.  Breakers ‘keeper Alyssa Naeher got her fingers to it, tipping Sinclair’s shot off the crossbar and out of bounds for a FC Gold Pride corner kick.

After a scoreless first half, FC Gold Pride pounced on the Breakers coming out of halftime.  In the 46th minute, Barnhart punted the ball to midfield where Kelley O’Hara headed it on to Sinclair on the left flank.  Sinclair dribbled to the top of the 18-yard box and sent a low, left-footed cross through the center of the penalty area to the top right corner of the six-yard box where Marta one-timed it past Naeher.  The goal was Marta’s league-leading 18th of the 2010 season.

Four minutes later, the Bay Area side extended its lead as Milbrett worked a give-and-go with O’Hara.  Milbrett passed the ball to the rookie forward at the top of the 18-yard box and then continued her run into the penalty area.  O’Hara slipped the ball to her and with only Naeher to beat, Milbrett chipped the ball into the right side of the goal.  The score was Milbrett's sixth goal of the season.

With a win this evening, the Breakers would have clinched the second seed in the WPS Playoffs presented by MedImmune and hosted the WPS Super Semifinal on Thursday, Sept. 23.  Now the second and third seeds will be determined next weekend on WPS’s final day of regular season play.

The Breakers, who lead the third-place Philadelphia Independence by a single point in the WPS Standings, visit Sky Blue FC on Saturday, Sept. 11 at 7pm ET.  A victory against the New Jersey side will secure the second seed for Boston.  If the Breakers tie or lose versus Sky Blue FC, they will have to wait on the Independence’s result later that evening to determine their seed in the post-season.

FC Gold Pride concludes the 2010 regular season by hosting the Independence on Saturday, Sept. 11 at 8:30pm ET/5:30pm PT on Fox Soccer Channel.  Prior to the match, FC Gold Pride will be presented with the WPS Regular Season Champion trophy.  As the top seed in the playoffs, FC Gold Pride will host the WPS Championship presented by Citi on Sunday, Sept. 26 at 11:30am PT.  Tickets for the WPS Championship are on sale now at FCGoldPride.com.

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