Weekend Report

Ending their three-game winning streak, the Los Angeles Sol came away with their first draw of the season in a 0-0 match against Saint Louis Athletica, Saturday, April 25. The game came down to the keepers, with Saint Louis Athletica’s Hope Solo closing down Aly Wagner’s penalty kick in the 73rd minute and Sol goalkeeper, Karina LeBlanc maintaining her blank slate for the season on a blocked penalty kick from Lori Chalupny in the 83rd minute. Angie Woznuk nearly scored in the closing minutes of the game for Saint Louis with an upper left shot. However, LeBlanc made a spectacular reaching save to secure the 0-0 tie.

After a nil-nil tie with Sky Blue FC two weekends ago, the Chicago Red Stars came out with avengeance on Saturday and smashed the Boston Breakers. In a 4-0 match, the Red Stars offense hit its rhythm with goals from Carli Lloyd, Megan Rapinoe, Karen Carney and Brittany Klein, who also notched two assists during the game. Chicago outshot Boston 20-8. The Breakers were only able to create some late scoring opportunities, but Chicago keeper, Caroline Jonsson secured her third shutout this season.

Abby Wambach posted her long-awaited first goal of the season in the Washington Freedom’s 4-3 victory over FC Gold Pride, Sunday, April 26. However, Wambach did not stop there. She later secured the game-clinching goal with a header off of Cat Whitehill’s free kick, the same play that resulted in her first goal, in the 90th minute of the match. The Freedom and FC Gold Pride headed into the second half with a 1-1 tie, but Washington soon put away two goals from Lori Lindsey and Allie Long. The Bay Area responded with two goals in a twelve minute span of play to tie the match before Wambach scored the game-winner.
 
Line Up Notables

Karina LeBlanc and Hope Solo played significant roles in the Los Angeles Sol vs. Saint Louis Athletica tie match, Saturday. Each posted a penalty kick save and closed down every opportunity the other team had for a goal. The game also saw LeBlanc secure her fourth shut out this season.

The Washington Freedom’s Abby Wambach tallied not one, but two goals, on Sunday against FC Gold Pride to get on the score sheet for the first time this season. With two outstanding headers right past Bay Area keeper, Nicole Barnhart, and an assist to Lori Lindsey, Wambach was the most notable player of this match.

Chicago Red Stars midfielder, Brittany Klein, posted a goal and two assists in her team’s 4-0 victory over Boston. Klein generated outstanding offensive play for the Red Stars, scoring the fourth goal and assisting Megan Rapinoe and Karen Carney. She helped lead her team forward into the second place of league standings.

Quotables From Notables:

A few words from players and coaches…

“Everyone can say there’s a monkey on my back, I do want to score goals for my team but most importantly I want to win games,” said Abby Wambach. “There are still some things to work on – defensively we had a few break downs.  We put some goals in the back of the net today and that’s a big reason why we came out on top today.”

“It was a very difficult game and we had very good chances. Goalkeeper Karina LeBlanc made huge saves for the team,” said Los Angeles Sol head coach Abner Rogers. “It was a physical game and St. Louis had that edge on us. Overall, it was a very exciting game for the fans.”

“I don’t think she struck it very well,” said Hope Solo on Aly Wagner’s missed penalty kick. “Nevertheless I was going to my right.”

“Chicago was better in every aspect of the game,” said Breakers head coach Tony DiCicco on the Red Stars thrashing Saturday. “We have to extract the lessons learned from this game and get better.”

“The whole week we have been working on our final third play and our finishing,” said Chicago head coach Emma Hayes.  “All week the press has asked me about our wonderful goal scorers and where have they been; they came and played tonight.  I thought they turned it on not just with some quality moments but I’m talking about world class finishes.”

WPS Player of the Week: Week 5

Washington midfielder Abby Wambach has been chosen WPS Player of the Week for Week 5 after scoring two goals, including the stoppage-time winner, in visiting Freedom's 4-3 thriller over FC Gold Pride.

Wambach netted her first two goals of the season, both on headers, sending the Freedom to an 18th-minute lead, then nodding home Cat Whitehill's free kick in the second minute of stoppage to give Washington its first victory. The decisive goal settled a back-and-forth encounter in which Gold Pride twice rallied from deficits to pull even, the last time in the 83rd minute.

The WPS Player of the Week award is voted upon by a panel of journalists who cover WPS from the North American Soccer Reporters. The league will announce a WPS Player of the Month for April on May 1 at www.womensprosoccer.com.

• Week 1: Aya Miyama (Los Angeles Sol)
• Week 2: Marta (Los Angeles Sol)
• Week 3: Kelly Smith (Boston Breakers)
• Week 4: Aly Wagner (Los Angeles Sol)
• Week 5: Abby Wambach (Washington Freedom)

April WPS Player of the Month Voting begins

WPS began its April Player of the Month voting for fans, media and teams. The nominees come from the WPS Player of the Week winners and any write-in selections are also accepted. Fans can vote at http://fancorner.womensprosoccer.com with votes closing on Thursday, April 30. The winning player will be announced on the league website on May 1.

WPS Players by State

27 of the 50 states are represented by American players in WPS, with California, Illinois, and New York ranking highest in amount of players on WPS rosters (including developmental players).

California        28 Players        Colorado          3                     Missouri          2
Illinois            11                    Hawaii            3                     Oregon           2
New York         9                     Maryland        3                     Utah               2
New Jersey      7                     Massachusetts 3                     Virginia           2
Texas              6                     North Carolina 3                     Georgia           1
Ohio               5                     Alabama          2                     Iowa               1
Connecticut     4                      Florida            2                     Minnesota       1
Pennsylvania   4                      Indiana           2                     New Mexico     1
Washington     4                      Michigan         2                     Wisconsin        1

Goals by the Numbers

• Goal-o-Rama: Prior to Week 5, WPS had 19 total goals in 10 games before 11 goals were scored in two of the three games this past weekend for a total of 30 goals in WPS and an average of 2.31 goals per game through Week 5 of the 2009 WPS Season.
• Top Scorers – Los Angeles Sol’s Marta (3), Boston Breakers’ Kelly Smith (3)
• Goals by Team – Boston Breakers (6), FC Gold Pride (6), Chicago Red Stars (6), Washington Freedom (6), Los Angeles Sol (5), Sky Blue FC (1), Saint Louis Athletica (0)
• Total Goals – 30 goals scored since WPS Inaugural Match on March 29, 2009 with an average of 2.3 goals per game.
• Quickest Goal in League Play: Allison Falk in 6th minute of WPS Inaugural Match, Los Angeles Sol vs. Washington Freedom (3/29/09)
• Quickest back-to-back goals by one team: 2 goals in 3 minutes – 42nd minute, 45th minute – from Marta in Los Angeles Sol vs. Sky Blue FC match (4/5/09)
• Most Goals in One Game by one team: 4, Washington Freedom 4-3 FC Gold Pride (4/26/09) and Chicago Red Stars 4-0 Boston Breakers (4/25/09)
• Most Goals in One Game by both teams: 7, Washington Freedom 4-3 FC Gold Pride (4/26/09)
• Most Goals in a Game by a player: 2, Marta (Los Angeles Sol – 4/5/09), Abby Wambach (Washington Freedom – 4/26/09)
• Longest Scoring Drought: 270 minutes over 3 games, Saint Louis Athletica

Scheduling Note

The June 20 game between the Chicago Red Stars and Boston Breakers at Toyota Park in Bridgeview, IL, has been rescheduled. The game will now be played on June 21 at 7:00 pm CT (8:00pm EST) at Toyota Park. The league website at www.womensprosoccer.com has all the latest times and schedules for the 2009 WPS Season.