The Western New York Flash returned to Sahlen’s Stadium for the first time in almost a month to take on Seattle Reign FC in the second of three matches the teams will play this season. Though a hard fought battle, the Flash had to settle for the draw as Kim Little scored from the spot and Lynn Williams found the equalizer late in the game.
The Flash were sporting some major lineup changes with Elizabeth Eddy getting the start at RB and Amanda Frisbie getting her first start for the Flash in the midfield. Injuries to Kristen Edmonds and Jamia Fields forced head coach Aaran Lines to get a bit creative with choosing a starting XI to which he seemed happy with the results.
Literally did all our preparations with Edmonds in there and had to figure all that out last night. Liz came in and did a fantastic job tonight. For someone who hasn’t played in that role a lot, she was tremendous. Jamia came out of the last one with an injury and Amanda Frisbie’s been patient and a good pro and waited for her opportunity and took her opportunity tonight; did very well for us and helped us for the point.
While it took a few minutes for both teams to get settled, The Flash quickly found their groove and were just relentless with their attack; keeping Reign goalkeeper Haley Kopmeyer and the Seattle defense very busy in the first half.
The Flash did a great job utilizing both flanks and put together a very organized attack which utilized all areas of the field and players from all positions. Center back Brittany Taylor even found herself at the corner flag at one point and actually nutmegged a defender and sent in a nice little cross to Abby Dahlkemper in front of the net.
That was only one of the many opportunities the team had in the early stages of the match. Frisbie fought her way through the Reign back line, but her shot went just over the net. 22nd minute, Samantha Mewis found Frisbie open down the flank who sent an excellent cross to the head Becky Edwards, but Kopmeyer was just able to get a hand on it.
Several minutes later Jaelene Hinkle sent a cross in towards Jasmyne Spencer that was not cleared well by the Reign and fell to the feet of Williams. Williams took a shot from just outside the box, but wasn’t hit well and Kopmeyer was able to make the save. Though the team had a whopping 9 shots on goal in the half, they were unable to convert.
On the other side of the pitch, Chantel Jones had very little to do in the first half as the Reign were barely allowed to get the ball into their attacking third. When they did, the stellar Flash defense kept them without a shot on goal, leaving the teams in a scoreless draw at the half.
The Reign had one of their first real opportunities in the 49th minute. Jess Fishlock received the ball at midfield and flicked it on to Little who had snuck past the back line and was chasing the ball toward the goal. Jones charged off her line and was able to clear the ball out of harm’s way before Little could do any damage.
Seattle would get on the score sheet only a minute later, though as Little tried to find Fishlock in the box. While the ball was initially intercepted, Fishlock was able to pick it off Hinkle and head toward goal where she was tripped up by Dahlkemper and awarded a penalty. Little converted from the spot giving the Reign a 1-0 lead.
Determined to level the score, the Flash continued to press and much like in the first half, had a number of opportunities from the run of play and set pieces, but were unable to put one away until the 81st minute. Eddy, who had starting going more forward from her RB position as the match went on, got into the box, beat her defender and took the ball to the end line before swinging it out in front of the goal. The ball went through traffic in front of the net and found a wide open Williams, who put it away and made it 1-1.
Though the Flash pushed hard for a game winner in the final moments of the match, they were unsuccessful and would have to settle for a draw. Despite only earning one point, Lines was pleased with his team’s performance. “Obviously an individual mistake cost us the lead there early, but I think the response from that was just tremendous. That was clearly the best team in the league last year. To have them in here and dominate and control the game the way we did for long periods was really encouraging.”
While the Flash were somewhat unlucky to have only earned a point in the match, the Reign were perhaps lucky to have taken any points at all, putting on a performance that, while not terrible, was inconsistent with the quality of play that has come to be expected of the Reign who boast a majorly talented roster even without it’s national team allocations.
“We’re disappointed,” head coach Laura Harvey commented after the game. “I thought the Flash were the more effective team in the game. We played some good stuff at times and that’s what we are, but we’re disappointed with our performance. Glad to come away without losing the game, but we’ll reflect on this and thankfully we get to do it all again in seven days time. We need to be better, we know it, the girls know it which is good.”
Harvey further went on to credit the progress the Flash have made since their first meeting at the beginning of the season which was a 5-1 blow out in the Reign’s favor noting that they had improved drastically since that match. Harvey also mentioned that her team just seemed off, as evidenced from the lack of pressure and the fact that Jones had to make zero saves in the run of play.
The two teams face off again on Saturday, July 11 at 10pm ET from Moda Pitch at Memorial Stadium in Seattle, WA.
