For the second straight week, Sky Blue faced the Houston Dash as Lifetime’s Game of the Week. Last week, Sky Blue came away victorious by a score of 3-1. All coaches agree that beating the same team two weeks in a row is difficult, so would Sky Blue be able to win their second consecutive home game of the season?
It was a game that Sky Blue head coach Christy Holly would later call slow and lethargic, but Sky Blue did prevail over the Dash, 2-1. Even though it wasn’t a pretty game from his standards, Holly was pleased that Sky Blue managed to “grind out” the win instead of settling for a draw like they may have done last season.
Sky Blue started the scoring in the 20th minute, when Dash midfielder Amber Brooks took down Raquel Rodriguez in the box and a penalty was awarded. Sarah Killion stepped up and calmly put the ball past Lydia Williams for her fifth goal of the season. It was her fourth penalty kick so far this season.
The Dash fought back and equalized in the 40th minute, when Andressinha rocketed a shot off of the post and subsequently put the rebound behind Sky Blue’s rookie keeper Kailen Sheridan.
As the match slowed down and got sloppier, Holly decided to insert both Daphne Corboz in the 60th minute and Leah Galton in the 73rd minute to bring some fresh legs and a new attacking mindset to the Sky Blue side. Sky Blue rookie Madison Tiernan also saw some minutes, coming in at the 87th minute to help close out the game.
In the 84th minute, Galton earned a free kick that Corboz placed into the penalty area, just outside the six yard box. There were a lot of bodies in the area and Rodriguez managed to poke it past Williams for the game winning goal.
Coming up, Sky Blue has a rough schedule: they travel to North Carolina to take on the Courage at 7 p.m. on Wednesday May 24th and immediately return home to host the Orlando Pride on Saturday May 27th.
