The Western New York Flash earned their first victory on the road as they shut out the Boston Breakers 2-0 on a cold and rainy evening at Soldier’s Field Soccer Stadium. Lynn Williams and Elizabeth Eddy were the goal scorers on the evening.
After a 2-0 defeat at Houston last week where very little went right for the Flash, the team looked much improved in all aspects of the game. Head coach Aaran Lines made one change from the previous match, starting Chelsea Stewart in place of Ashley Nick. The move paid off as Stewart was a good fit against the Breakers and was very involved with pressuring through the midfield and working both sides of the ball.
The start of the match was somewhat unsettled for both sides with Boston having just a slight edge in the early stages of the match. Kristie Mewis dribbled the ball from just inside the center line to the edge of the box and ripped a shot with her left foot, but Chantel Jones was able to tip it over the bar and out of harms way. With seven saves on the evening, Jones, who got her third start of the year had another excellent game, coming up huge for the Flash on several occasions.
While the Breakers had the early chances of the match, the majority was dominated by the Flash. The team constantly pressured the Breakers, breaking up plays and causing several turnovers in the midfield; one which led to the first goal of the evening. Samantha Mewis intercepted a ball near the center line and quickly passed it to Jasmyne Spencer who played an excellent through ball to the speedy Jamia Fields. Fields took a shot which Breakers goalkeeper Jami Kranich was unable to cleanly field, allowing a crashing Lynn Williams to easily tap it into the open goal, giving the Flash a 1-0 lead.
Williams was involved on the Flash’s second goal as well as she received the ball from Stewart who had won a header off a goal kick from Jones. Williams sent the ball just on front of Eddy who was able to catch it and find herself with a breakaway opportunity. Kranich came off her line to try to kick the ball away, but Eddy was able to take a touch past her, hold off the incoming defender and slide it in to make it 2-0 Flash.
The second half of the match showed a bit more fight from the Breakers as they did a good job to slow down the Flash midfield, which had been physically dominant in the first. They did well to create more opportunities, but the Flash back line put in an outstanding performance to earn the clean sheet. Though the entire team put forth a strong effort, the defense really shined, particularly Abby Dahlkemper who seemed to be everywhere, effectively shutting down the Breakers attack.
The win comes at a key time for the Flash, who, despite having their shares of ups and downs, have shown tremendous growth to this point in the season. The win jumps them to 5th in the overall standings and should restore some of the confidence that may have been lost after the mediocre performance in Houston.
Having come close but failing to secure three points on the road before Sunday, Lines had a lot to be happy about after the game. “It was a big one, it’s been our biggest jump in the standings so far this season. For us it was about, we didn’t care about how we got it done, we just wanted to get our first road victory under out belt and out of the way.”
Lines described the team as being gritty and well organized and praised the team as a whole for their desire and will to get those three points; highlighting performances by Dahlkemper on the back line as well as Becky Edwards bringing composure in the midfield and Mewis for excelling in the number eight role in the last few matches.
While Lines had nothing but good things to say about his side, Breakers coach Tom Durkin was the complete opposite. With the Breakers dropping their second straight game and putting in a sub par performance, Durkin had a very honest and concerned assessment and outlook for the team moving forward.
We played poorly tonight. The Flash played hard, it was physical, they were fully committed but I think soccer wise, it shouldn’t have been this difficult a game for us. We created chances tonight we didn’t finish, we got in some good positions, but we take extra touches that we don’t need to. Some poor performances defensively, better the second half, but not good enough, disappointing, raw as the weather.
Durbin went on to note that Julie King had a hamstring injury and, though not for lack of trying, was not herself and had an off performance, as well as criticize the general drop off in performance during the match across the roster. With an off week this week, the team has a lot to work on before their next match against FC Kansas City. “I got a lot of thinking to do. I’ll have to give it a big think and see where we’re going to go from here. We may have to shift directions.”
As for the Flash, they face Seattle Reign FC at home on Friday. The Flash kicked off their season against Seattle back in April when they lost 5-1 in what was a pretty rough match for the young team. When asked what his expectations are for Friday’s match, Lines (only partially) joked “Do a lot better against Seattle than what we did in the first one.” The Flash have been much improved since that opening match and if they play like they did the previous two home games and against Boston on Sunday, that expectation has the potential to become a reality.
