Raise your hand if, at the start of the 2015 NWSL season, you had the Western New York Flash ending the league leader’s undefeated streak in week 9 of the season (or anywhere around this point). If your hand is up, kudos for you for having faith in a team that people still have mixed belief in. If not, well, you certainly weren’t the only ones, but that is exactly what happened when the Flash and Red Stars met up for the first time this season.
The Flash came away with a 3-1 victory on goals by Samantha Mewis, Elizabeth Eddy and Jamia Fields. Eddy, who signed with the club a few weeks ago also had an assist on the evening and spoke post game about joining a team partially through the season. “I knew it was going to be a kind of a big uphill battle and coming here I was just like, you gotta bust your butt off every day at practice, do the best you can and enjoy the process. Don’t overthink it, don’t get too into it, just relax, enjoy it and have as much fun as possible and it’s turned out really well.”
The Flash have pretty much stuck with the same or similar lineup since the start of the season and the match against Chicago was no different. The one notable change was that goalkeeper Chantel Jones got her first start of the season with Sabrina D’Angelo still recovering from that slight AC joint separation suffered against Kansas City earlier in the month.
The first half of the match was fairly uneventful from both sides. The Flash had an early opportunity on goal that Chicago goalkeeper Michelle Dalton had a bit of a hard time handling but ultimately was able to grab. Other than that, they posed very little threat. There was some great flank play down the right side by Kristen Edmonds and Lynn Williams, with Fields getting in on the action as well periodically, but the Flash couldn’t create any real challenges.
Chicago did not put forth much of an attack initially either, but found themselves with more possession late in the half. They had a couple of solid shots on goal, but Jones was easily able to make the saves and keep it scoreless at the break. On the other side of the ball, Chicago defended really well in the first half, specifically Samantha Johnson who was tasked in handling Williams and Fields and did a good job in doing so.
The Flash came out strong in the second half immediately pressuring Chicago and looking to get on the scoresheet, which they did in the 51st minute thanks to Mewis.
Jamia got the ball out wide on the right and we had been talking so much about switching the field and I kind of wasn’t even thinking about it, but she had clearly been thinking about it all game and so she sent this big long ball to Eddy and I don’t really remember, I think Eddy touched it inside to me and I kind of dribbled in and shot with my left foot to the far post and it went it and it was just a great build up by everyone I think. We had been working on that a lot and it was great to finish on something that we had talked to much about.
Eddy would go from provider to goalscorer as she doubled the lead in the 72nd minute. Fields was again involved as well as she dispossessed Arin Gilliland and slid the ball to Williams to found Eddy right in front of the goal. Eddy’s first touch sort of popped the ball up in the air but she was able to volley it up over Dalton for the 2-0 lead.
Chicago’s defense, which had been on point in the first half was significantly less so in the second half and seemed rattled not only by the halftime tactics change from the Flash, but also by finding themselves down 2-0 in the latter stages of the game.
That lead would increase to 3-0 on an absolute rocket by Fields. After receiving the ball on the right side of the pitch, Fields took on Gilliland, dribbling the ball inside before sending a beautiful arching ball over the head of Dalton and into the back of the net.
The Flash got some help on the other end of the field from Jones as they were faced with a handling penalty for the second week in a row. Sofia Huerta stepped up to take the shot, but Jones guessed correctly and was able to put the ball out of play.
Chicago did manage to pull one back late in the game after a poorly defended corner. The ball appeared to come off the crossbar and was bounced around in the box before finding the feet of Huerta to make it 3-1, but was not enough to salvage points from the Flash who won their second straight match and improve to 3-3-1 going into the break for the FIFA Women’s World Cup.
This win not only extends the Flash’s winning streak while ending Chicago’s unbeaten streak, but according to general manager and head coach Aaran Lines, is important to the team overall and is a building block in what has been a very developmental season. “It gives us a little security when you look at the table now, though its still quite early. I think going into a world cup break, go away see your family for three or four days, coming back freshens things up and we continue to work and grow every week and we’ll see where the season leads us.”
Lines also had high praise for Jones, who has had a bit of a rough start to the season but put in an excellent performance and came in clutch for the Flash on several occasions. “Chantel has been patient, it was great to see her to go in and perform the way that she did tonight. We clearly would have loved a clean sheet for her and the back line but gotta keep plugging away for that, but she took her opportunity and did very well tonight.”
The Flash, along with the rest of the NWSL, are on a break during the group stages of the Women’s World Cup, but return to action against the Houston Dash on June 20, 2015 at 8:30pm ET from BBVA Compass Stadium in Houston Texas.
