One week after Sky Blue handed the Seattle Reign their first home defeat, they were back on home turf to face another team coming off an opening weekend victory, the Washington Spirit.
Defender Ali Krieger opening the scoring for the Spirit in the 40th minute when Sky Blue keeper Caroline Casey lost her well-placed ball that could have been either a shot or a cross in the sun.
Krieger assured the media that she meant to score that goal. With a laugh, she said “I meant to do that. I knew it was going in.” Diana Matheson chimed in, “She’s been practicing that all week.” Krieger continued, saying “I don’t know. It just felt good when I hit it. Luckily it went in.”
“These things happen in games,” Sky Blue head coach Christy Holly said about the goal. “It’s up to us to make sure these moments don’t define the game.”
The Spirit scored again in the 56th minute when Crystal Dunn played a through ball to Diana Matheson, who put the ball between Casey’s legs and into the net. Regarding the Dunn/Kelley O’Hara matchup on the right side, Holly said that Sky Blue did not adjust their plan to accommodate her: “We played to our strengths, not to their strengths. Kelley [O’Hara] is one of our attacking players, we made Dunn defend against us. For me, Kelley got forward a number of times. Maybe our execution wasn’t always what we wanted… It’s down to how we set up. You can match her speed with a bit of brains.”
Sky Blue pulled back a goal in the 66th minute after Taylor Lytle assisted on a Maya Hayes tally. Sky Blue continued to attack for the remainder of the game but could not put another past Spirit keeper Stephanie Labbe.
Christy Holly ended his time speaking to the press discussing outside perceptions of Sky Blue. “People want to throw stones on the outside, always question things about Sky Blue. That’s fine. That’s fine. The fans bought in, the players have bought in. It’s a long, long process. It’s not just ‘click your fingers’ and things change. Already we’ve seen a good turnout from the crowd on the first night of the season and we’re going to give them something to come back to.”
Up next, Sky Blue (1-0-1, 3 points) will attempt to mess with Texas as they take on the Houston Dash (1-0-1, 3 points) in Houston on Friday, April 29th at 8:30 p.m. The Dash won their home opener against Chicago in a convincing manner but was unable to defeat the newest NWSL team, the Orlando Pride, this weekend. The Dash also lost star midfielder Carli Lloyd to a first degree MCL sprain, which will sideline her for 3-6 weeks.
