It was a wonderful night for soccer on Saturday, April 18th in Piscataway, New Jersey, when the 1-0 Houston Dash visited Sky Blue FC.
Sky Blue carried some momentum into this game, having beaten FC Kansas City 1-0 last weekend in Kansas City. The goalscorer in that game, Nadia Nadim, would leave the Dash game after playing only 45 minutes. After the game, coach Jim Gabarra said that Nadim picked up a slight groin injury at practice this week and he decided to take her out at halftime rather than risk losing her for future games.
Midfielder Katy Freels, who scored Sky Blue’s only goal off of a perfectly placed ball by Kelley O’Hara, acknowledged that chemistry between herself and Nadim is something that still needs to develop. “Nadia’s awesome to play with, she’s so smart, so savvy, and she makes my job easy with her runs. I think we learn together and we grow together.” Gabarra said that ultimate goal for their formation is to have Freels play higher, and Nadim even higher than she was in this game, to maintain possession in a more dangerous part of the field.
Gabarra criticized Sky Blue’s transition game, saying that he felt they did a poor job getting numbers forward to support Nadim up top. “You can’t defend for long stretches of time and then get the ball right back to [the Dash]. It wasn’t like we were getting a lot of changes for [Nadim] in the first half, she was kind of the Lone Ranger up there,” which contributed to the decision to remove her from the second half of the game.
There were a few hair-raising moments near the goal, most notably when Brittany Cameron decided to come to the right edge of the box to challenge Carli Lloyd in the fourth minute. Lloyd cut the ball inside while Cameron struggled to recover, but miraculously, the ball stayed out of the net and rookie Kristin Grubka managed to clear the ball to midfield. Aside from two long range shots that went well over the goal, Lloyd had a fairly quiet night in the midfield, controlling play but being kept off of the scoresheet, with Katy Freels matching her step for step most of the night.
The Dash’s lone goal was scored by Jessica McDonald in the 52nd minute. Head coach Randy Waldrum spoke of his disappointment about not coming away with three points, but that he’s encouraged by the way his team reacted after going down by a goal early in the game, which he acknowledged would not have happened last season. “I’m really proud of the way we fought back and got back in the game.”
Christie Rampone played 68 minutes with a heavily bandaged left knee and after the game, Gabarra stated that the game plan was drawn up with Rampone only going 45 minutes, but in true Christie Rampone fashion, she went a little longer than planned. He had high praise for his defender, saying “She never ceases to amaze you, as dinged up as she is and still able to go out there and, I mean, you see her in training and you wonder how she honestly managed to get through 45 minutes… We just have to manage her with the age that she is, and give her the minutes she needs to get sharp again.” Gabarra also admitted that they will need to watch Rampone’s form closely and perhaps go easy on her in training to minimize the risk of re-injury.
Gabarra also offered a little bit of insight about US Women’s National Team players coming and going before the World Cup, saying that he hopes to hold onto Christie Rampone for the Chicago game, which is in Chicago on Saturday, May 2nd. He indicated that he would be asking US Soccer if they will be available that day, but that with Kelley O’Hara, “the plan’s been given that it’s three weeks and she’s off. Christie, maybe, since she hasn’t been getting a lot of minutes over the year, maybe we can talk about getting her in that [Chicago] game.” USWNT players will report to training camp in Los Angeles on May 1st.
Houston Dash’s three Canadian allocations (Erin McLeod, Lauren Sesselman, and Allysha Chapman) received playing time. When Gabarra was asked about the absence of Jonelle Filigno, Sky Blue’s lone Canadian, he said that Filigno wasn’t slated to be a starting player and he could not guarantee her playing time beyond 20 or 30 minutes, so it was decided that it would be better for her World Cup preparations to stay in Vancouver instead of making a cross-country flight to New Jersey for the weekend.
Sky Blue will face the Washington Spirit at home on Sunday, April 26th at 7 p.m.
