In extremely oppressive heat and with the threat of thunderstorms looming over Yurcak Field on Sunday, May 31st, Sky Blue FC faced off against the Houston Dash.
Sky Blue started strong, when Hayley Haagsma scored her first professional goal in the 11th minute. Katy Freels started the play with a well-placed corner kick that defender Kristin Grubka was able to get her head on and redirect it to where Haagsma was waiting by the front post.
“I was told I was running front post today, so I ran front post, and if the ball goes over my head I’m supposed to stand near goal in case it comes back. It came back at me and I was in the right place at the right time,” said Haagsma, who sat out all of the 2014 season with a knee injury.
Sky Blue forced Dash keeper (and last week’s NWSL Player of the Week) Bianca Henninger to make several saves, including a few balls that had to be tipped over the crossbar. The midfield seemed to be connecting better than in recent games, however, forward Nadia Nadim has not been able to take advantage of her chances. Sky Blue coach Jim Gabarra acknowledged that Nadim was ineffective, saying “Obviously teams are going to key on her, she’s got to find other ways to help us. If she’s not scoring goals, she’s got to be able to hold the ball up” until other players are there to help with the attack.
Sky Blue’s Kim DeCesare had a chance to put her team up by two goals in the 31st minute, when the threat of Nadia Nadim and Shawna Gordon drew the Dash defense to the left side of the field. Katy Freels slotted a nice pass through a few players to Kim DeCesare, who was open on the right side of the box, but her shot went just right of the goal into the side netting. Meg Morris, a halftime replacement for Shawna Gordon, had a scoring chance in the 55th minute, but her shot went just over the goal.
In the 78th minute, Rachel Axon was fouled at the top of the box by Morris and was awarded a penalty kick. Although Axon is the designated penalty shot taker for the Dash, Jess McDonald stepped up to the spot instead, and Sky Blue keeper Brittany Cameron correctly dove to her right and denied the goal.
After the game, Dash coach Randy Waldrum spoke of the on-field choice to have McDonald take the penalty kick instead of Axon. “Normally I would’ve had Rachel take it, she’s the one designated to take it, but said she didn’t feel comfortable since she was the one fouled.” Waldrum acknowledged that a converted penalty may have won the game, but said that if they had made that shot, he may not have made the changes that he made that led to the eventual game-winning goal a few minutes later.
Although this penalty shot stop provided a nice shot of adrenaline for Sky Blue, a few minutes later, in the 86th minute, Kealia Ohai crossed a ball into the box and Tiffany McCarty slid and took a shot. Cameron went down to make the save and the ball bounced off of her legs to the waiting Allie Bailey, who easily put the rebound in for her first professional goal. Her goal was the first by a reserve player in the NWSL this season.
With the draw, the Dash climbed to fifth place in the league standings with a record of 2-2-3 for 9 points. Sky Blue is holding steady in the ninth spot with a record of 1-3-4 for 7 points. Sky Blue has not scored more than one goal in a game through eight games, although it is worth mentioning that they have only let in more than one goal on one occasion, a 3-1 loss at the hands of the Washington Spirit at the end of April.
Sky Blue next heads to Seattle to face the Reign on June 6th; they then have almost three weeks off, including the break for the Women’s World Cup group games, before they return to Yurcak Field to face the league-leading Chicago Red Stars.
