Santa Clara, Calif. (May 3, 2009) – Leigh Ann Robinson came off the bench and connected for the only goal of the game in the 86th minute as FC Gold Pride knocked off Sky Blue FC 1-0 in a Women’s Professional Soccer match at Buck Shaw Stadium in front of 2,533 fans.

The scoring woes continued for Sky Blue FC, which has found the back of the net just once in its first four games. The team’s only goal came in a 1-1 tie against FC Gold Pride in the previous meeting between the two teams on April 11 in New Jersey.

“Obviously we’re disappointed with the result – to come this far and not get anything out of the game,” said Sky Blue FC Head Coach and General Manager Ian Sawyers. “We had some great chances in the first half and obviously again in the second. We felt we had a couple of golden chances that we didn’t take care of.”

Sky Blue FC dropped to 0-2-2 for two points with the loss and fell into a last-place tie with Saint Louis Athletica, which squandered a two-goal lead before settling for a 3-3 tie with the Washington Freedom on Sunday. FC Gold Pride moves into fourth place at 2-2-1 for seven points. Sky Blue FC returns to action next Sunday when it returns to Chicago to face the Red Stars at 6 p.m. ET in Fox Soccer Channel's WPS Sunday on FSC broadcast.

The winning goal started with a pass from Brazilian international Adriane, who had just entered the game two minutes earlier, making her WPS debut in the process. She led Robinson to the right with a perfectly weighted pass and she finished to the near post for the winning goal. The goal was the first for Robinson, who usually plays in the back for FC Gold Pride.

FC Gold Pride held a 13-9 edge in shots but Sky Blue FC had its chances in the game. Nicole Barnhart put on a great performance in goal for the home team finishing with four saves to earn her first shutout of the season.

Tiffeny Milbrett opened the action for FC Gold Pride when she went just wide in the ninth minute and then sent a header off the post a minute later. Barnhart came up with a class save in the 22nd minute by snaring a header from Sky Blue FC striker Sarah Walsh off a cross from Julianne Sitch. Barnhart denied Sky Blue FC again in the 31st minute when she touched a shot from Yael Averbuch past the post.

Sky Blue FC dodged a bullet in the 38th minute when Christie Rampone, who was making her return from a hamstring injury, took down Tiffany Weimer in the box. Weimer took the penalty but Sky Blue FC keeper Jenni Branam easily made the save.

The two teams traded great chances in the closing moments of the opening half. Sky Blue FC's Heather O'Reilly hit the post on a sliding effort and soon after, Weimer banged the crossbar on a 25-yard free kick just before the halftime whistle.

FC Gold Pride held a 7-2 advantage in shots after halftime but Branam was up to the task for most of the second half until the goal with four saves to give her six for the game. The Sky Blue FC keeper stopped Canadian forward Christine Sinclair right after halftime and then was there again to stop Kandace Wilson three minutes before the FC Gold Pride goal.

May 3, 2009 – Buck Shaw Stadium	1	2	-	F
Sky Blue FC (0-2-2)	0	0	-	0
FC Gold Pride (2-2-1)	0	1	-	1

Lineups:
Sky Blue FC - Jenni Branam; Julianne Sitch, Anita Asante, Keeley Dowling, Christie Rampone; Collette McCallum (Natasha Kai, 45th), Kelly Parker, Meghan Schnur, Yael Averbuch (Kacey White, 80th); Sarah Walsh (Rosana, 65th), Heather O'Reilly.
FC Gold Pride - Nicole Barnhart; Carrie Dew, Rachel Buehler, Kristen Graczyk; Formiga, Tiffeny Milbrett (Eriko Arakawa, 57th), Leslie Osborne, Tina DiMartino; Christine Sinclair (Leigh Ann Robinson, 70th), Tiffany Weimer (Adriane, 84th), Kandace Wilson. 

Scoring Summary:
FCGP - Robinson (Adriane) 86th minute

Misconduct Summary:
SBFC - Parker (caution) 44th minute

Game Summary:
Referee - Felisha Mariscal
Assistant Referees - Veronica Perez, Ian Anderson
4th Official - Andres Pffeferkorn
Attendance - 2,533 (10,300)
Weather - cloudy & wet, 68 degrees

Boxscore (All statistics contained in this boxscore are unofficial.) 

Quotes:

Sky Blue FC

Head Coach – Ian Sawyers:

Thoughts on being back in the Bay Area...
"It was great, I got to hang out with some people that I love dearly, very special people. So we're kind of half happy, but that's okay."

On having a professional soccer league for women...
"It's a great opportunity and it's great to have it back again. I think the overall quality and depth is probably deeper this time around and the quality of player is deeper.  We want to be good stewards of the game and make sure your daughters and grand-daughters have a league to look up to."

Goalkeeper Jenni Branam:

On saving the penalty kick...
"It comes from years of experience. It was all or nothing so I held as long as I could and I tried to fake one way and I went the other way."

On the goal that beat her...
"It was a bummer.  It went past me near post, on the ground almost."

FC Gold Pride

Head Coach Albertin Montoya:

Overall impression of the game...
"I think once again it was definitely an entertaining game.  We're playing some good soccer out there but unfortunately we didn't get some goals there in the first half.  One thing we focused on this week was getting a clean sheet for the first time and fortunately it paid off for us."

On calling the right shots with the substitutions...
"When it works out like that, it's great.  We saw that we could use Leigh Ann's (Robinson) speed.  It worked out that Adriane came in and she found the ball, turned and played the ball into Leigh Ann (Robinson) when she was making the run down the side. It's nice to see when it works out that way.  It was a total team effort and we've seen that every day in practice."

Goalkeeper Nicole Barnhart:

On seeing the opposing goalie making huge saves and what it means for her level of play...
"I think I have to go out there and try to do everything I can to make sure my team is in it and it doesn't really matter what the other goalkeeper is doing.  If I can do that that, it's what counts and our defense played well too so we came out on top."

Midfielder Leigh Ann Robinson:

On her goalie and what it means to have her playing so well...
"When Barnie (Nicole Barnhart) plays like that it pumps me up and definitely gets our energy going with amazing save after amazing save that I don't think other goalies could have made so it sparks our team. 

On her goal and how it unfolded...
"I was just staying out wide; that is what we kept talking about.  So I was there and Adriane just got her head up and we made eye contact and she gave me a perfect ball so I just went towards the goal."