Week 3 of the 2010 WPS season is now in the history books. And like the past two weeks, Pali Blues Alumnus’s were everywhere.
The week started off with FC Gold Pride earning their second win of the season at the expense of the Atlanta Beat, who have yet to win a match all season (0-2-1). Five former Blues started the match (four with FC G, and 1 with Atlanta) as FC Gold Pride emerged victorious by a score of 2-1. The winning goal came as two former Blues paired up to score the match winner in the 89th minute. With time running out, and a draw all but certain, Carrie Dew headed in her first goal of the season after Ali Riley centered a cross from the right side of the 18-yard box. Elsewhere on the field for the Pride, Kelly O’Hara, and Kandace Wilson also made starts, while Rosie Tantillo was an unused sub.
On the other side of the field, Tobin Heath’s tenure at the school of Hard Knocks continues. The 2010 #1 draft pick went down with an injury 20 minutes into the match and had to be subbed out. Leaving the stadium on crutches, Heath was evaluated on Sunday.
“The extent of that injury is still unknown,” said Beat Head Coach Gareth O’Sullivan on the team homepage. “Tobin is a quality player, and anytime you lose a player of that caliber, it will affect the game.”
In their second encounter in a three week span, the Chicago Red Stars once again fell to Karen Bardsley and her Sky Blue FC by the same score of 1-0. In what was almost a repeat performance of the season opener, Chicago outshot Sky Blue by a wide margin, only for Bardsley to come up huge with six saves.
"There were so many chances that Chicago created and all credit to them for those chances” said Sky Blue Coach Pauliina Miettinen. “Sometimes teams have to earn their luck and I think we fought hard today and we were a little bit lucky."
For Chicago, both Brittany Klein, and Whitney Engen started. However Klein was subbed out in the 58th minute.
On Sunday, the St. Louis Athletica met up with the Boston Breakers and played to a 1-1 draw. For Boston, both Lauren Cheney and Amy LePeilbet went the full 90 while Liz Bogus was an unused sub.
For Ashlyn Harris, her time in St. Louis is beginning to resemble more and more that of young US Men’s International Brad Guzan at Aston Villa. With her own version of Brad Friedel (Aston Villa’s starter) playing above her on the depth chart in the form of Hope Solo, she was an unused sub for the third straight week. Kendall Fletcher on the other hand played the match in its entirety, while India Trotter entered as an 88th minute sub.
In the final WPS encounter of the weekend, the Philadelphia Independence up ended the Washington Freedom, 3-1, with all the goals coming in the second half. Former Pali Blues goalkeeper, Valerie Henderson earned her first start of the season, as Philadelphia’s #1 goalkeeper Karina LeBlanc was away with the Canadian National Team. Bellflower native Danesha Adams made her second appearance off the bench helping to preserve the lead late in the match while Sarah Walsh was not on the game day roster.
