The WNY Flash defeated the Boston Breakers by an astounding 7-1 scoreline at Rhinos Stadium Saturday evening. Jess McDonald scored the first hat trick of the 2016 NWSL season, Lynn Williams scored a brace and Makenzy Doniak and Taylor Smith each netted a goal. Christen Westphal scored the lone Breaker goal, their first from the run of play this season.
Both teams had slightly different lineups heading into the match. McCall Zerboni started for the Flash as well as Katelyn Rowland who made her first appearance for the team. Post game, head coach Paul Riley stated that the start for Rowland was planned and was not a reflection of Britt Eckerstrom, but that the two would be battling it out for the starting job moving forward. The Breakers also made several changes in their lineup including starting goal scorer Westphal.
The Flash started off quickly on the offensive with Williams nearly scoring within the first five minutes of the match. She receive a good ball down the right flank and had beaten Boston goalkeeper Jami Kranich near post, but the ball went off the inside of the post, across the face of the goal and out of danger.
The majority of the first half was slightly in favor of the Flash but both teams put in a solid effort on both sides of the ball. The Flash were constantly taking possession and moving down the field but the Breakers did well to prevent another goal as well as having a solid chance of there own occasionally.
That changed in the 29th minute when McDonald gave the Flash a 2-0 lead. McDonald found herself with the ball in front of the net but was unable to make anything of it, it went back and forth around the box as a few different Flash players had a go at net but were unsuccessful. Finally the ball bounced out to Mewis who passed it over to McDonald who was able to score.
The Breakers pulled one back a few minutes later as Westphal completely caught Rowland by surprise. Westphal had the ball around the top of the box and looks like she went to cross it in but it sailed over Rowland, who did not seem to be expecting the ball to reach her, and into the top of the net, bringing the Breakers within one. Westphal’s goal was also the first time this season that the Breakers scored from the run of play.
Boston’s celebrations were short-lived, however as McDonald turned provider and set up Williams for her second goal of the night. After that the floodgates opened for the Flash, and Boston seemed to lose a lot of the fight they had shown early in the match. McDonald scored her second of the night in the 43rd minute and Doniak scored her second of the season in stoppage time, leaving the Flash with a 5-1 lead at the half.
The Flash continued their scoring in the second half as McDonald scored the league’s first hat trick this season in the 49th minute. The Flash also broke their single game scoring record. They would shortly go on to tie the league scoring record with 7 as second half sub Taylor Smith scored her second goal of the season as well.
It was a tough game for the Breakers, who have not had the best season so far with only one win and four points to show. The team started off strong with the lineup changes looking to be successful, but toward the end of the first half were not playing with the same purpose as early in the match. Head coach Matt Beard commented on that after the game.
“We got to play for pride now. We couldn’t let what happened in the first half… especially when we’d done so well to get back in the game. That was the frustrating point for me, we get back 2-1, there’s 20 minutes to go, we could build upon that but we concede 3, 4 goals. Once that third one went in I knew it was game over because of the way we’ve been on the road and the way things have panned out for us lately.”
Beard also commented on the decision to change the lineup as much as he did, and the overall thoughts on the match.
“We didn’t perform very well last week, we have had a lot of players covering a lot of distance in games, we’re obviously got a lot of games on the road, we spent 8 hours on the coach traveling up yesterday. It’s just at a point where we are trying to find the right balance and unfortunately it hasn’t worked. Disappointed because we didn’t stick to what we worked on in training from my perspective. It is what it is, we didn’t deserve anything tonight and just grateful that the scoreline wasn’t more.”
Last week the Flash had the same number of shots as this week and didn’t score at all compared to the seven scored this week. Head coach Paul Riley touched upon what made the team so successful against Boston.
“Sometimes it goes in and sometimes it doesn’t. We got on the board early, you talk about getting on the board early, I think we got a goal at a good time in the game. Jess and Lynn were sharp and I think that made a big difference to us, I think when those two are on and they were on today. I think last week Jess struggled a little bit and she was probably the difference in the game for me compared to last week. She looked dangerous she put them on the back foot, we stretched them out, we stretched the width too. Makenzy Doniak played well on the right hand side and Jae pulling down that left hand side. We had a lot of width and created a lot of 2v1 in those wide areas. I think the crossing was better, we worked a lot on crossing this week and getting in the box and finishing.”
Riley also talked a bit about recent acquisition Lianne Sanderson, who was available as a sub, but did not play. Riley mentioned that they had expected her to play but given the score and how the game was going, wanted to work on getting the other forwards some time. He spoke highly of Sanderson and seemed excited to be reunited with her and about the possibilities of what she can bring to the team, especially with several players on their way out in the coming weeks for Olympics prep.
The Flash play the Chicago Red Stars at home on Friday, July 1st at 7pm ET while the Breakers are away at Seattle on July 2nd at 10pm ET.
