Former Blues goalkeeper Ashlyn Harris makes game-winning penalty kick save for WNY Flash
On Saturday, August 27, the Women’s Professional Soccer had a new champion: the Western New York Flash. The championship match was played at Sahlen’s Stadium, home of the Flash who was the regular season champion, and earned the right to host the final. The opponent, the Philadelphia Independence, finished the season in second place, and earned the right to host the Super Semifinal in which they defeated magicJack.
Seven of the players in the final have played for the Pali Blues; including the Palisades own Ali Riley, Whitney Engen, Alex Morgan, and Kandace Wilson for the Flash in addition to Philly’s Danesha Adams, and Val Henderson. Goalkeeper of the Year, Ashlyn Harris, who played for Pali in 2009, made the title-winning save at the end of a penalty kick shootout to give the Flash the victory.
The match started off slow, but it picked up towards the end. The first goal came in the 62nd minute when Candace Chapman played the ball to Christine Sinclair (later named MVP of the match), who took a left-footed shot and placed it past Philly ‘keeper Nicole Barnhart.
In the 84th minute, Amy Rodriguez kept Philly in after capitalizing on a shot from Danesha Adams (who played for Pali in 09) that went off the goal post.
The teams went into overtime where the Flash lost Beverly Goebel to a second yellow card and the enduing red card ejection, but neither team was able to score, and it was off to a penalty kick shoot out for the title.
The five shooters for the Flash were Marta, Sinclair, McCall Zerboni, Caroline Seger, and Yael Averbuch. For Philly, they were Lianne Sanderson, Adams, Leigh Ann Robinson, Veronica Boquete, and Laura Del Rio.
The Flash scored all five kicks, and it came down to the last one by Del Rio who shot the ball to the right of the goal. Harris dove to her left to save the shot in midair and the crowd erupted in joy as the rest of Harris’ teammates ran to the field to celebrate with her.
The Flash became the first expansion team to win a WPS Championship, and also set an attendance record with 10,461 for a final.
Photos: ISI Photos | Robyn McNeil
