On Saturday, March 9, Sky Blue FC faced off against the Seattle Reign at Yurcak Field in New Jersey. The game was physical and chippy from the opening whistle. Reign coach Laura Harvey acknowledged that a physical game plan is what works to play against the Reign and be able to disrupt their passing game.
Lauren Barnes, playing her 50th NWSL match, scored the Reign’s lone goal in the 76th minute. Brittany Cameron admitted that she should have been able to get to the ball, a low shot from the top of the 18-yard box that went through multiple players before it crossed the line. “I should’ve gotten it,” she said. “It took a bounce at the end. It had to go on the ground through 10, 15 people. We have to do better as a team, including myself.”
While Cameron perhaps should have gotten to that particular ball, she made several key saves to keep Sky Blue competitive in this match, including a few sequences where she was able to make point blank saves in quick succession.
In the first half, Sarah Killion made a stellar stop right on the goal line during a scramble around the net. Speaking about that moment, Cameron said “Everybody makes mistakes. Someone misses their mark, I don’t get [the ball], we need somebody else. That’s why we have a team.”
Sky Blue coach Jim Gabarra was disappointed in their play in the first half, saying their passing wasn’t crisp and the team seemed to believe they were going to lose another game so they weren’t even going to try to take control. The Reign’s goal did have a feeling of inevitability around it, given how they controlled most of the match, but Sky Blue didn’t give up and in fact had a few decent scoring oppportunities in the second half after they turned up the pressure.
Haley Haagsma had a good chance to equalize in the 79th minute, when Shauna Gordon launched a free kick into the box, but her header went just wide of the net.
Seattle controlled the flow of the game for almost the entire 90 minutes but a controversial red card to midfielder Jess Fishlock in the 89th minute allowed Sky Blue to equalize. Almost no one saw the incident, which occurred during a melee in the Reign 18-yard box following a Sky Blue corner kick. The ball was somehow kept out of the goal, and following a conference between the main referee and the assistant referee, Sky Blue was awarded a penalty kick. After a second referee conference, Fishlock was given a red card for a handball in the box and Nadim stepped up and buried the penalty kick for her second goal of the season.
After the game, Laura Harvey said that Fishlock was adamant that she hit the ball with her head, not her hand, but Nadim said that Fishlock put her hand up by her head and the ball went off of her hand instead of her head. “The ball was going in the goal and she jumped and blocked it with her hand,” said Nadim. “It was really good that the [assistant] ref saw it.”
Harvey implied that she would be protesting the red card to the league; however, video of the incident is inconclusive and Fishlock will most likely be suspended for their next match, which is not until May 30th against Chicago.
Sky Blue’s next game is Saturday, May 16, against the fifth place Washington Spirit at the Maryland SoccerPlex in Germantown, Maryland.
