After what amounted to an almost three week break that encompassed the league’s World Cup break and a bye weekend – Sky Blue FC returned to Yurcak Field to take on one of the best teams in the league, the Chicago Red Stars. Chicago features rookie sensation Sofia Huerta, who was the first player ever to receive back-to-back Player of the Week honors and also received the Player of the Month award for the month of May.
Chicago defeated Sky Blue 3-0, with goals coming from three different players. In only the sixth minute of the game, Huerta stepped around a falling Sky Blue defender and passed the ball to a nearly wide-open Vanessa DiBernardo, who put it past Brittany Cameron, who was moving to her left but was unable to get there in time.
Huerta also assisted on the second Red Stars goal in the 34th minute, when Rachel Quon recovered the ball after Kristin Grubka slipped in the midfield and passed it to Huerta on the left side of the box. Only one defender was back for Sky Blue, and Huerta chose to pass the ball to Jen Hoy, who was streaking down the right side and was able to tap it in for an easy goal.
Despite a good start to the second half that saw Sky Blue play Nadia Nadim through towards the Red Stars goal and created a few chances to score, Chicago midfielder Alyssa Mautz scored in the 62nd minute, which put the game away for the Red Stars.
Sky Blue had some chances of their own, notably in the 21st minute when a Katy Freels shot hit the crossbar and was cleared to safety. At the very end of the game, Nadia Nadim attempted a bicycle kick off of an attempted clearance by Chicago, but her shot slammed off of the crossbar.
After the game, Sky Blue coach Jim Gabarra spoke about his team’s defeat. “When you’re that bad against a team that’s confident and playing well and wants to get forward, you’re going to get beat three-nothing.”
“My job is to prepare the team and put the best team on the field tonight and looking back on it, it’s probably my fault for giving them time off and not really having the right lineup on the field due to injuries,” Gabarra continued. “Coaches make mistakes, and this one’s on me.”
There is help on the horizon for Sky Blue: Australians Sam Kerr and Caitlin Foord are scheduled to join the team on their road trip to Portland later on this week. Certainly both players will make a big impact whenever they are able to step onto the field for Sky Blue, if not next week then certainly on July 11th when Sky Blue faces Portland in New Jersey.
Another bright spot for Sky Blue is the return of defender Coco Goodson, who retired at the conclusion of the 2014 season and saw just over 15 minutes against the Red Stars. When asked why she decided to “un-retire,” Goodson said simply, “I was at home and I missed the competition and the girls… and everything about soccer.” She said she called Gabarra, with whom she has a good relationship, and asked if there was still space for her and he was able to make it work. “I’m just really grateful that the opportunity was there for me to come back..”
Sky Blue (1-5-4, 7 points) hit the road next weeked to face the Portland Thorns (2-3-4, 10 points), who are surprisingly sitting in the 8th spot in the league table. They return home to New Jersey to face those same Thorns on Saturday, July 11th at 7 p.m.
Love the headline. Oof! Interesting to read that Jim G. took full responsibility for the loss yesterday. Shame what’s happening with this team. Time for some power moves, perhaps.