When Sky Blue FC (now 1-3-3, 6 points) faced off against the Boston Breakers (now 2-3-1, 7 points) on Friday night, 2014 first round draft pick Maya Hayes once again found herself on the back line instead of lining up as a forward. Last week, coach Jim Gabarra said Hayes gave one of the best performances all season at right back as she limited Washington’s Crystal Dunn to one assist in a draw with the Spirit. On Friday, she did the same to Boston’s Kristie Mewis, who took shot after shot but couldn’t manage to find the net.
Katy Freels scored off of a turnover in midfield in the 8th minute to give Sky Blue the lead, which lasted until the 60th minute, when Stephanie McCaffrey put in a rebound to even the score.
Moments before the goal, Brittany Cameron came up big and stopped Morgan Marlborough on a point-blank shot, which she managed to deflect out of bounds. Boston looked dangerous on the ensuing corner kick, but the ball came out near midfield and was served towards the goal by Lauren Lazo. Cameron came off of her line and punched the ball away and seemed to get a bit tangled up with a Breaker. As she moved back towards the net, McCaffrey volleyed the ball over Cameron’s head into the net.
Another dangerous moment came in the 71st minute, when Brittany Cameron ranged out of goal and Kristie Mewis was alone near the left side of the goal, however, she was unable to control the ball and the play went out of bounds for a Sky Blue goal kick.
Meg Morris subbed in for Shawna Gordon in the 77th minute and had an immediate impact, rocketing a shot that slammed off the crossbar and straight down in the 78th minute. From the main camera angle shown on the stream, it appeared to bounce just behind the goal line, or perhaps even on the goal line, but play continued and Boston cleared the ball from danger.
Sky Blue continued to press, but Boston weathered the storm with a combination of good luck and solid defensive work.
Boston threatened again in the 88th minute when McCaffrey had space in front of her in the midfield as Sky Blue scrambled to recover defensively, but tripped over the ball, which gave Sky Blue time to get into position. Maddy Evans, who had just entered the game, took the ball into the corner, where Cami Levin defended her and Sky Blue was able to recover and move the ball into the midfield.
Kristie Mewis got one final chance to win the game in stoppage time, when she went in alone against Cameron, but the play was ruled offside and blown dead. Last week, she scored late in stoppage time to defeat the Thorns.
Sky Blue returns to Yurcak Field next Sunday, May 31st, when they take on the Houston Dash (1-2-2, 5 points). Sky Blue last faced Houston on April 18th, when they battled to a 1-1 draw. Houston is coming off a 2-2 draw with the Chicago Red Stars, a game in which the Dash went up 2 goals and Chicago fought back to equalize.
